I  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 
Princeton,  N.  J. 


^  From  the  PUBLISHER.  ^ 

BX  5i9  9^\H2  5  H3  5  "isl? 
Hamilton,  James,  1814-186'7 
Life  of  Joseph  Hall,  D.D. 
Bishop  of  Norwich 


LIFE 

or 

JOSEPH  HALL.  D.D. 

BISHOP  OP  NORWICH. 


/  Br 


JAMES  HAMILTON,  M.B.S. 


ooiTent  le  reconnoitre  en  tout.— PtucaL 
Cum  Pee  de  Deo  vixit— ili^iMtunM. 


NEW  YORK: 
ROBERT  CARTER.  58  CANAL  STREET, 
AND  PITTSBURG,  56  MARKET  ST 

1847." 


LIFE 

OF 

BISHOP  HALL. 


TO  THE 

EEV.  JAMES  HAMILTON,  B.A. 

OP  ST,  JOHN'S  COLLEGE,  OXFORD  ; 
MINISTERING  IN  THAT  ESTABLISHMENT 
WHICH  HALL  ADORNED, 
AND  NEAR  THE  SCENES 
WHICH  HIS  PRESENCE  CONSECRATED, 

THESE  PAGES 
ARB  AFFECTIONATELT  INBCBIBKD. 


PREFACE. 


The  following  Memoir  was  origi- 
nally prepared  as  a  biographical  pre- 
face to  a  new  edition  of  Bishop 
Hall's  Contemplations.  At  the  re- 
quest of  the  Publisher,  it  now  makes 
its  appearance  separately,  and  with 
some  alterations  which  a  revision 
could  not  fail  to  suggest. 

In  a  posthumous  volume,  entitled 


B  PREFACE. 

«  The  Shaking  of  the  Olive  Tree," 
were  inserted  two  autobiographical 
fragments, — the  one,  "  Observations 
of  some  Specialties  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence in  the  Life  of  Joseph  Hall, 
Bishop  of  Norwich ;"  the  other, 
"  Hard  Measure,"  setting  forth  the 
sufferings  of  his  later  years.  From 
these  the  principal  facts  of  his  his- 
tory have  been  derived ;  but  his 
miscellaneous  works,  especially  his 
devotional  writings,  abound  in  ma- 
terials illustrative  of  his  character  ; 
and  much  information  may  be  ga- 
thered from  the  incidental  notices 
of  his  voluminous  contemporaries. 
Of  these  sources,  so  far  as  they  were 
known  or  accessible,  the  author  has 


PREFACE.  7 

availed  himself;  but  in  a  tract  of 
such  humble  pretensions,  did  not 
think  it  requisite  to  authenticate 
every  statement  by  elaborate  refer- 
ences. 

It  is  only  justice  to  this  good  pre- 
late, and  may  be  for  our  own  ad- 
vantage, to  remember  the  motive 
which  induced  him  to  leave  on  re- 
cord the  chief  events  of  his  history : 
*'  Not  out  of  a  vain  affectation  of 
my  own  glory,  which  I  know  how 
little  it  can  avail  me  when  I  am 
gone  hence,  but  out  of  a  sincere 
desire  to  give  glory  to  my  God, 
whose  wonderful  providence  I  have 
noted  in  all  my  ways,  have  I  recorded 


8  PREFACE. 

some  remarkable  passages  of  my 
fore-past  life.  What  I  have  done 
is  worthy  of  nothing  but  silence  and 
forgetfulness ;  but  what  God  hath 
done  for  me  is  worthy  of  everlasting 
and  thankful  memory,'* 

JEdinburghy 
August  183a 


LIFE 

or 

BISHOP  HALL. 


JOSEPH  HALL  was  born  July  1st, 
1574,  at  Bristow  Park,  in  the  parish 
of  Ashby  de  la  Zouch,  Leicestershire. 
His  parentage  was  honest  and  well- 
allowed."  His  father  held  an  oflSce 
under  the  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  which 
enabled  him  to  procure  a  good  educa- 
tion for  his  twelve  children,  and  war- 
ranted his  ambition  that  one  of  them 
should  enter  the  ministry,  at  a  time 


10        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

when  a  University  was  not  the  only 
avenue  to  the  Church.  But  the  in- 
structions and  impressions  which  Jo- 
seph received  from  his  mother  were  a 
better  qualification  than  the  lessons 
of  all  his  teachers ;  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  their  value  in  after  days  in- 
vested the  memory  of  the  gentle  giver 
with  an  affection  doubly  filial.  Wini- 
fred Bambridge  was  the  Monica  of 
Bishop  Hall.  A  body  always  feeble, 
and  often  anguish-stricken,  was  the 
appropriate  tenement  of  a  spirit  sor- 
rowful and  deeply  exercised,  if  it  did 
not  even  re-act  in  a  morbid  influence 
on  her  mind.  But  happily  the  clouds 
which  at  one  time  shaded  the  piety  of 
this  excellent  woman,  did  not  render 
it  forbidding  to  the  more  genial  temper 
of  her  son.    He  rejoiced  in  the  light, 


LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 


11 


when  others  would  have  complained 
of  the  halo,  nor  refused  to  be  con- 
ducted to  the  kingdom  by  a  guide 
whose  countenance  was  sometimes 
sad.  And  he  at  last  had  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  her  set  free  from 
these  vexing  thoughts,  and  deriving 
the  joy  of  a  religion  of  hope.  What 
with  these  trials,  so  had  she  profited 
in  the  school  of  Christ,  thit  it  was 
hard  for  any  friend  to  come  from  her 
discourse  no  whit  holier.  How  often 
have  I  blessed  the  memory  of  those 
divine  passages  of  experimental,  di- 
vinity which  I  have  heard  from  her 
mouth  !  What  day  did  she  pass  with- 
out a  large  task  of  private  devotion, 
whence  she  would  still  come  forth 
with  a  countenance  of  undissembled 
mortification!   Never  any  lips  have 


12        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

read  to  me  such  feeling  lectures  of 
piety ;  neither  have  I  known  any  soul 
that  more  accurately  practised  them 
than  her  own.  Temptations,  deser- 
tions, and  spiritual  comforts  were  her 
usual  theme ;  shortly,  for  I  can  hardly 
take  off  my  pen  from  so  exemplary  a 
subject,  her  life  and  death  were  saint- 
Uke." 

It  was  at  the  public  school  of  his 
native  village  that  he  received  the  ele- 
ments of  his  education.  After  spending 
"some  years,  not  altogether  indili- 
gently,  under  the  ferule  of  such  mas- 
ters as  the  place  afforded,  and  attaining 
some  competent  ripeness  for  the  Uni- 
versity," as  he  was  now  fifteen  years 
of  age,  it  became  a  subject  of  much 
deliberation  to  liis  father,  and  anxious 


LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 


IS 


interest  to  himself,  where  he  should 
next  be  sent.  His  father's  fortune, 
not  so  large  as  his  family,  rendered 
the  University  almost  unattainable ; 
and  Joseph's  schoolmaster,  in  his  zeal 
for  so  meritorious  a  pupil,  had  pri- 
vately negotiated  with  Mr.  Pelset,  a 
clerical  friend,  famed  for  his  talents 
and  the  eloquence  with  which  he  dis- 
played them,  to  receive  him  into  his 
house  as  his  scholar  ;  —  Mr.  Pelset 
undertaking  "  within  one  seven  years, 
to  send  him  forth,  no  less  furnished 
with  arts,  languages,  and  grounds  of 
theoretical  divinity,  than  the  careful- 
lest  tutor  in  the  strictest  college  of 
eitlier  University."  The  scheme,  when 
unfolded  to  his  father,  so  completely 
adapted  itself  to  liis  circumstances  and 
desires,  that  he  speedily  took  the  re- 


14        LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 

qilisite  steps  for  securing  its  advan- 
tages. *'  There,  and  now  were  all  my 
hopes  of  my  future  life  upon  blasting. 
The  indentures  were  preparing,  the 
time  was  set,  my  suits  were  addressed 
for  the  journey.  What  was  the  issue  ? 
O  God!  thy  providence  made  and 
found  it.  Thou  knowest  how  heartily 
and  sincerely,  in  those  my  young  years, 
-I  did  cast  myself  upon  thy  hands; 
with  what  faithful  resolution  I  did  in 
this  particular  occasion  resign  myself 
over  to  thy  disposition,  earnestly  beg- 
ging of  thee  in  my  fervent  prayers,  to 
order  all  things  to  the  best ;  and  con- 
fidently waiting  upon  thy  will  for  the 
event.  Certainly,  never  did  I  in  all 
my  life  more  clearly  roll  myself  upon 
the  Divine  Providence,  than  I  did  in 
this  business;  and  it  succeeded  ac- 
cordingly " 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  15 

While  these  measures  were  in  pro- 
gress, his  elder  brother  had  occasion 
to  visit  Cambridge,  and  was  kindly  en- 
tertained by  his  townsman  Nathaniel 
Giiby,  a  Fellow  of  Emanuel  College. 
The  majestic  structures,  the  learned 
leisure,  and  the  old  renown  of  Cam- 
bridge, won  his  brother  to  a  great 
love  and  reverence  of  an  academical 
life,"  and  powerfully  enforced  Mr. 
Gilby's  earnest  persuasions  by  all 
means  to  send  his  younger  brother 
thither.  Under  these  influences  he 
returned  to  Ashby,  and  with  Mr. 
Gilby*s  message  reported  in  the  most 
glowing  terms  his  own  impressions. 
On  his  knees  he  begged  that  his  fa- 
ther would  not  drown  the  expecta- 
tions of  the  youthful  aspirant  *'in  a 
shallow  country  channel and  con- 


16 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


eluded  by  beseeching  him,  if  the  cost 
were  the  hindrance,  to  sell  part  of  the 
land  which  should  otherwise  be  his 
own  inheritance.  An  appeal  thus 
urged  could  not  be  resisted,  and  with 
an  honest  enthusiasm  the  governor  of 
Ashby  exclaimed,  "  Cost  what  it  will, 
to  the  University  he  shall  go."  The 
decision  was  opportunely  made,  for  in- 
stantly a  knock  at  the  door  announced 
a  messenger  from  Mr.  Pelset,  to  tell 
that  he  was  waiting  for  his  pupil,  and 
would  expect  him  on  the  morrow.  Mr. 
Hall  told  the  servant  that  he  was  some 
minutes  too  late,  and  informing  him 
of  his  change  of  purpose,  dismissed 
him  with  a  courteous  message  to  his 
master,  whilst  Joseph  welcomed  the 
ch^ge  in  his  destination  with  tears  of 
joy. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  17 

He  had  spent  only  two  years  in 
Emanuel  College,  when  his  father, 
•*  whose  not  very  large  cistern  was  to 
feed  many  pipes  besides  his,"  was  pre- 
vailed on  to  recall  him,  that  he  might 
become  the  master  of  that  school 
where  he  had  shortly  before  been 
scholar.  His  extreme  disappointment 
at  this  premature  interruption  of  his 
studies  was  so  evident  as  to  move  the 
pity  of  an  uncle,  by  whose  generosity 
he  was  enabled  to  resume  his  place  at 
college,  where  he  soon  after  obtained 
a  scholarship.  But,  though  other  four 
years  terminated  his  right  to  this 
maintenance,  they  had  not  abated  his 
literary  enthusiasm,  and  had  only  ex- 
alted into  passion  his  love  for  the 
haunts  of  learning.  There  was  only 
one  capacity  in  which  he  could  pro 


18        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

long  his  residence,  and  from  that  he 
was  precluded  by  the  statutes.  These 
allowed  of  only  a  single  fellow  from 
any  shire,  and  the  Leicestershire  fel- 
lowship was  preoccupied  by  his. towns- 
man and  tutor  Mr.  Gilby.  Here,  not 
for  the  first  time,  he  experienced  the 
blessing  of  a  faithful  friend.  For  in 
conversation  with  the  Earl  of  Hun- 
tingdon, his  class-fellow  Mr.  Cholmley 
so  represented  his  worth  and  accom- 
plishments, as  to  engage  in  his  behalf 
the  warm  interest  of  his  father's  patron. 
The  Earl  was  much  concerned  to  hear 
that  his  hopes  of  a  fellowship  were 
forestalled ;  but  on  learning  the  reason, 
resolved  on  a  remedy.  He  sent  for 
Mr.  Gilby,  and  offered  to  appoint  him 
his  chaplain,  on  terms  which  gained 
his  ready  assent.    Mr.  Gilby  tendered 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  19 

his  resignation  at  Cambridge ;  it  was 
accepted,  and  three  days  of  public 
competition  for  the  vacant  fellowship 
were  named.  The  examination  pro- 
ceeded, and  at  the  close  of  the  second 
day  word  arrived  that  the  Earl  of  Hun- 
tingdon was  dead.  Joseph  Hall  instantly 
repaired  to  the  Master  of  the  College, 
and  entreated  him,  in  regard  for  his 
friend  now  thrown  destitute,  to  stay 
the  election.  He  represented  that  his 
own  youth  less  required  the  situation, 
and  held  out  better  prospects  of  pro- 
vision in  other  ways.  But  he  was  told, 
that  the  place  having  been  declared 
vacant,  the  election  must  proceed,  and 
that  his  tutor  "  must  wait  upon  the 
providence  of  God  for  his  disposing 
elsewhere."  "  Then  was  I  with  a 
cheerful  unanimity  chosen  into  that 


*20        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

society,  which  if  it  had  any  equals,  1 
dare  say  had  none  beyond  it,  for  good 
order,  studious  carriage,  strict  govern- 
ment, austere  piety;  in  which  I  spent 
six  or  seven  years  more,  with  such  con- 
tentment as  the  rest  of  my  Hfe  hath  in 
vain  striven  to  yield.  Now  was  I  called 
to  public  disputations  often,  with  no  ill 
success  ;  for  never  durst  I  appear  in 
any  of  those  exercises  of  scholarship, 
till  I  had  from  my  knees  looked  up  to 
heaven  for  a  blessing,  and  renewed  my 
actual  dependence  upon  that  divine 
hand.  In  this  while,  two  years  to- 
gether I  was  chosen  to  the  rhetoric 
lecture  in  the  public  schools,  when  I 
was  encouraged  with  a  sufficient  fre- 
quence of  auditors  ;  but  finding  that 
well-applauded  work  somewhat  out  of 
my  way,  not  without  a  secret  blame  of 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


21 


myself  for  so  much  excursion,  I  fairly 
gave  up  that  task  in  the  midst  of  those 
poor  acclamations  to  a  worthy  succes- 
sor, Dr.  Dod,  and  betook  myself  to 
those  serious  studies,  which  might  fit 
me  for  the  high  calling  whereunto  I  was 
destined,  wherein,  after  I  had  carefully 
bestowed  myself  for  a  time,  I  took  the 
boldness  to  enter  into  sacred  orders ;  the 
honour  whereof  having  once  attained, 
I  was  no  niggard  of  that  talent  which 
God  had  entrusted  to  me,  preaching 
often,  as  occasion  was  offered,  both  in 
country  villages  abroad,  and  at  home 
in  the  most  awful  auditory  of  the  Uni- 
versity.** 

In  the  disputations  which  had  long 
been  the  prominent  business  of  aca- 
demic life,  Mr.  Hall  first  acquired  re- 


22        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

nown  by  his  ingenious  defence  of  the 
paradoxical  thesis,  Mundus  senescit ; 
though,  in  the  quaint  language  of 
Fuller,  "  his  position  in  somewhat 
confuted  his  position ;  the  wit  and 
quickness  whereof  did  argue  an  increase 
rather  than  a  decay  of  parts  in  this 
latter  age."*  But  whilst  these  dispu- 
tations and  the  rhetoric  lecture  afforded 
our  scholar  a  dignified  employment, 
they  were  not  the  only  avocation  of 
this  tranquil  period.  Mr.  Hall  then 
first  adventured  in  the  field  of  author- 
ship ;  but  either  from  deference  to  an 
ecclesiastical  censure  strangely  passed 
upon  it,  or  because  he  had  afterwards 
learned  so  completely  to  count  all 
things  but  loss  for  Christ,  we  do  not 

•  England's  Worthies.  Leicestershire. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


23 


find  him  making  any  subsequent  re- 
ference to  a  publication  which  has 
procured  him  applause  among  many 
who  are  ignorant  of  his  nobler  works.* 
It  was  in  his  23d  year  that  he  gave  to 
the  world  his  Satires,  and  introduced 
a  species  of  composition  new  to  Bri- 
tish literature.  The  circumstance  of 
his  being  the  first  English  satirist 
would  entitle  the  Virgidemiiim  to  a 
place  of  importance  in  the  history  of 
our  national  poetry ;  but  the  united 
suffrages  of  skilful  critics  —  with  one 

•  Warton  observes,  not  with  his  usual  judgraent, 
that  "  the  poet  is  better  known  than  the  prelate 
or  the  polemic."  So  far  is  this  from  being  the  case, 
that  of  many  thousands  who  have  read  Bishop 
Hall's  Meditations  and  Sermons  with  pleasure  and 
advantage,  few  have  ever  heard  that  he  was  a 
poet,  and  still  fewer  that  his  poems  were  once  pro- 
scribed by  authority,  as  unfit  to  be  circulated  or 
read — Chalmers'  Biog.  Diet.  Art.  Hall, 


24        LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 

formidable  exception,  and  personal  ani- 
mosity made  Milton  here  an  incompe- 
tent judge  —  have  awarded  it  other 
claims.  Its  greatest  fault  is  obscurity 
— an  obscurity  which  the  learned  notes 
of  Warton  and  Singer  have  only  par- 
tially dispelled  —  the  more  provoking 
as  having  been  purposely  assumed  by 
one  of  the  most  perspicuous  of  writers, 
and  not  unjustly  punished  by  the  com- 
parative neglect  to  which  it  has  con- 
signed the  production.  It  was  Hall's 
very  natural  mistake,  with  no  models 
but  the  ancient  satirists,  to  consider 
their  style  of  intricacy  and  innuendoes 
essential ;  and  so  completely  was  he 
possessed  by  this  misconception,  that 
he  thinks  it  incumbent  to  apologize 
for  the  excessive  perspicuity  of  his 
verses.    But  more  than  the  meaning 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  2.5 

is  enigmatical.  By  clothing  the  ellip- 
tical sententiousness  of  Persius  in  the 
antiquated  phraseology  of  Chaucer,  he 
has  locked  his  sense  in  a  double  ci- 
pher. In  one  respect  he  improved 
upon  his  patterns,  as  his  successors 
have  degenerated  from  him  —  in  the 
freedom  from  offensive  personalities 
which  distinguishes  his  Satires — the 
*'  biting"  and  the  "  toothless"  alike. 
With  a  self-denial,  wise  though  rare, 
it  was  his  determination  to  mar 
his  own  verse  rather  than  another's 
name."  The  faithful  delineation  of 
manners  gives  us  an  acquaintance  with 
the  times  beyond  the  reach,  though 
not  beyond  the  province  of  history, — 
whilst  the  couplets  are  not  loaded 
with  inglorious  names,  which  nothing 
but  such  distinction  could  have  saved 


26        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

from  forgetfulness.  Widely  severed  as 
were  the  peculiarities  of  Pope — per- 
spicuous, modernized,  and  personal — 
we  do  not  wonder  that  these  Satires 
should  have  been  the  subjects  of  his 
minute  and  frequent  study  when  he 
at  last  discovered  them,  and  that  he 
should  have  expressed  regret  that  "he 
had  not  seen  them  sooner."  "  Whe- 
ther we  consider  the  age  of  the  man 
or  of  the  world,  they  appear  to  be 
equally  wonderful,"  is  the  verdict  of 
an  accomplished  reviewer.*  Nor  can 
we  withhold  the  mare  specific  and  dis- 
criminating sentence  of  one,  whose 
large  acquaintance  with  the  imagery 
and  diction  of  his  father-poets  has  made 
him  the  too  fastidious  critic  of  his 
own.  "  In  his  Satires,"  says  Mr.  Camp- 

•  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  xxxi.  p.  481. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  27 

bell,  *•  he  discovered  not  only  the 
early  vigour  of  his  own  genius,  but 
the  powers  and  pliability  of  his  native 
tongue.  •  *  *  In  the  point,  and  vo- 
lubility, and  vigour  of  Hall's  numbers, 
we  might  frequently  imagine  ourselves 
perusing  Dryden.  This  may  be  exem- 
pUfied  in- the  harmony  and  picturesque- 
ness  of  the  following  description  of  a 
magnificent  rural  mansion,  which  the 
traveller  approaches  in  the  hopes  of 
reaching  the  seat  of  ancient  hospi- 
tality, but  finds  it  deserted  by  its 
selfish  owner : — 

Beat  the  broad  gates ;  a  goodly  hollow  sound. 
With  double  echoes,  doth  again  rebound  ! 
But  not  a  dog  doth  bark  to  welcome  thee. 
Nor  churlish  porter  canst  thou  chafing  see. 
All  dumb  and  silent,  like  the  dead  of  night. 
Or  dwelling  of  some  sleeping  Sybarite,; 
The  marble  pavement  hid  with  desert  weed. 
With  house-leek,  thistle,  dock,  and  hemlock  seed. 

»  ♦  •  * 


28 


LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 


Look  to  the  tow'red  chimnics,  which  should  be 
The  wind-pipes  of  good  l)ospitality, 
Through  which  it  breatheth  to  the  open  air, 
Betokeninp  life  and  liberal  welfare; 
Lo,  there  th'  unthankful  swallow  takes  her  rest. 
And  fills  the  tunnel  with  her  circled  nest. 

*'  His  Satires  are  neitlier  cramped 
by  personal  hostility,  nor  spun  out  to 
vague  declamations  on  vice,  but  give 
us  the  form  and  pressure  of  the  times, 
exhibited  in  the  faults  of  coeval  litera- 
ture, and  in  the  foppery  or  sordid 
traits  of  prevailing  manners.  The  age 
was  undoubtedly  fertile  in  eccen- 
tricity. *  *  *  From  the  literature  of  the 
age.  Hall  proceeds  to  its  manners 
and  prejudices,  and  among  the  lat- 
ter derides  the  prevalent  confidence 
in  alchymy  and  astrology.  To  us  this 
ridicule  appears  an  ordinary  effort  of 
reason ;  but  it  veas  in  him  a  common 
sense  above  the  level  of  the  times."* 

•Campbell's  Specimens  of  the  British  Poets, 
vol.  ii.  pp.  257-9. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  29 


To  do  justice  to  "  the  vigorous  and 
musical  couplets  of  this  old  poet,"  we 
must  extract  the  opening  passage  of 
the  3d  book,  which  our  readers  may 
like  none  the  worse  for  its  entire  free- 
dom from  obscurity.  No  classical  de- 
scription of  the  golden  age  can  surpass 
the  playful  ingenuity  of  the  following : — 

Time  was,  and  that  was  terra'd  the  time  of  gold, 
When  world  and  time  were  young  that  now  are  old, 
(When  quiet  Saturn  sway'd  the  mace  of  lead, 
And  pride  was  yet  unborn  and  yet  unbred.) 
Time  was,  that  while  the  autumn  fall  did  last. 
Our  hungry  sires  gap'd  for  the  falling  mast. 
Could  no  unhusked  acorn  leave  the  tree. 
But  there  was  challenge  made  whose  4t  might  be. 
But  if  some  nice  and  licorous  appetite 
Desir'd  more  dainty  dish  of  rare  delight, 
They  scal'd  the  stored  crab  with  bended  knee. 
Till  they  had  sated  their  delicious  eye : 
Or  search'd  the  hopeful  thicks  of  hedgy  rows. 
For  briery  berries,  or  haws,  or  sourer  sloes  : 
Or  when  they  meant  to  fare  the  fin'st  of  all. 
They  lick'd  oak-leaves  besprent  with  honey-falL 
As  for  the  thrice  three-angled  beech  nut-shell 
Or  chesnut's  armed  husk  and  liid  kemell. 
No  squire  durst  touch,  the  law  would  not  afford. 
Kept  for  the  court,  and  for  the  king's  own  board 


These  Satires,  though  the  principal, 


so        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


were  not  the  only  poetical  effusions  of 
our  author.  During  his  college  days 
he  complied  with  a  prevailing  taste, 
and  composed  a  multitude  of  occa- 
sional poems,  threnodies  and  gratula- 
tory  odes.  From  one  of  the  earliest 
we  transcribe  a  few  stanzas,  whose 
euphonic  pomp  and  well-adjusted  epi- 
thets may  help  to  reconcile  us  to  an 
imagery  which  the  long-forgotten  oc- 
casion now  renders  extravagant.  The 
whole  elegy  on  Dr.  Whitaker  seems 
to  have  been  penned  with  ink  from 
Cocytus,  and  is  such  as  Chatterton, 
in  one  of  his  most  dismal  moods,  would 
have  delighted  to  imitate  :  — 

Bind  ye  my  brows  with  nnourninff  cyparisse, 
Ancl  palish  twigs  of  deadly  poplar  tree. 

Or  if  some  sadder  shades  ye  can  devise. 
Those  sadder  shades  veil  my  lipiht-loathing  eye; 

I  loathe  the  laurel  bands  I  loved  best. 

And  all  that  maketh  mirth  and  pleasant  rest. 


LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL.  31 

Thou  flattering  sun  that  ledst  this  loathed  light, 
■\Vhy  didst  thou  in  thy  saffron  robes  arise? 

Or  fold'st  not  up  the  day  in  dreary  night 
And  wark'st  the  western  world's  amazed  eyes  ? 

And  never  more  rise  from  -the  ocean. 

To  wake  the  mom,  or  chase  night-shades  again. 

Hear  we  no  bird  of  day  or  dawning  mom. 
To  greet  the  sun,  or  glad  the  waking  ear: 

Sing  out  ye  screech-owls,  louder  than  afom, 
And  ravens  black  of  night,  of  death,  of  drear: 

And  all  ye  barking  fowls  vet  never  seen. 

That  fill  the  moonless  nig^t  with  hideous  din. 

That  we  may  not  return  to  this 
subject — in  later  years  Hall  employed 
his  muse  on  a  dearer  but  more  ardu- 
ous theme,  a  metrical  translation  of 
the  Psalms.  The  first  ten  appeared 
with  the  title,  "  Some  few  of  David's 
Psalms,  metaphrased  for  a  taste  of  the 
rest."  We  could  have  wished  that 
his  success  had  been  more  commen- 
surate with  his  laudable  design ;  but 
the  "Metaphrase"  wants  the  vigour, 
the  patljos,  the  melody,  in  short  the 
poetry  of  his  youthful  productions. 


32        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

There  have  been  those  who  could  call 
forth  rich  music  from  a  lyre  of  their 
own,  without  being  able  to  retune  the 
harp  of  David ;  nor  can  we  wonder  that 
the  chords  which  refused  the  enchant- 
ments of  Milton  and  Byron,  should 
have  been  silent  beneath  the  touch  of 
Hall. 

Having  obtained  orders,  his  own 
inclinations  and  the  rules  of  the  so- 
ciety to  which  he  belonged,  made  him 
desirous  of  some  extra-collegiate  ap- 
pointment. At  that  time  a  school  had 
recently  been  opened  at  Tiverton  in 
Devon,  provided  with  an  ample  en- 
dowment, and  left  principally  under 
the  patronage  of  the  Lord  Chief-Jus- 
tice Popham.  He  applied  to  the  mas- 
ter of  Emanuel  College  to  recommend 
a  governor  for  the  new  erection.  Dr. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  33 


Chaderton  without  any  hesitation  no- 
minated Mr.  Hall,  and  immediately 
carried  him  to  London,  that  he  might 
introduce  him  to  the  Chief-Justice. 
The  illustrious  judge  was  so  fascinated 
by  the  indications  of  genius  and  ac- 
complishments which  this  interview 
revealed,  that  before  they  parted,  the 
one  had  promised  his  influence,  and 
the  other  signified  his  readiness  to  ac- 
cept. On  leaving  his  Lordship,  Mr. 
Hall  had  not  proceeded  far  when  he 
was  accosted  by  a  messenger  in  the 
street,  who  put  a  letter  into  his  hand. 
Dr.  Chaderton  remarking  a  change  in 
the  countenance  of  his  friend  as  he 
perused  his  despatches,  asked  what 
the  matter  might  be  ?  Mr.  Hall  ans- 
wered by  handing  him  the  letter,  which 
contained  a  very  pressing  invitation 


34       LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 

from  Lady  Drury  to  the  Rectory  of 
Halsted  in  Suffolk.  "  Sir,"  said  Mr. 
Hall,  ".methinks  God  pulls  me  by  the 
sleeve,  and  tells  me  it  is  his  will  I 
should  rather  go  to  the  east  than  to 
the  west."  «  Nay,"  said  Dr.  Chader- 
fon,  "  I  should  rather  think  that  God 
would  have  you  go  westward,  for  that 
he  hath  contrived  your  engagement 
before  the  tender  of  this  letter,  which 
therefore  coming  too  late,  may  receive 
a  fair  and  easy  answer."  "  Pardon  my 
dissent,"  was  Mr.  Hall's  reply ;  **  I 
well  know  that  divinity  was  the  end 
whereto  I  was  destined  by  my  parents, 
and  this  I  have  so  constantly  proposed 
to  myself,  that  I  never  meant  other 
than  to  pass  through  this  western  school 
to  it ;  but  I  see  that  God,  who  found 
me  ready  to  go  the  farther  way  about, 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  35 


now  calls  me  the  nearest  and  direct- 
est  way  to  that  sacred  end."  To  thi3 
the  good  Doctor  had  nothing  farther 
to  oppose,  and  though  it  was  the  frus- 
tration of  his  journey  to  Ldndon,  he 
recognized  the  finger  of  God,  and  joy- 
fully relinquished  his  protegee  to  the 
better  care  of  Providence.  All  that 
remained  was  to  satisfy  Lord  Popham 
This  Mr.  Hall  undertook;  and  not 
only  was  his  apology  as  frankly  sus- 
tained as  it  was  candidly  given,  but  he 
was  enabled  to  recompense  the  former 
kindness  of  a  friend.  For,  remember- 
ing by  whose  representations  to  the 
Earl  of  Huntingdon  he  had  obtained 
his  fellowship,  he  stated  the  qualifica- 
tions of  Mr.  Cholmley  so  effectually, 
that  the  vacant  place  was  transfered 
to  him,  and  they  '*  two,  who  came  to- 


36        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

gether  to  the  University,  must  now 
leave  it  at  once."  * 

His  next  step  in  life  is  too  impor- 
tant not  to  be  told,  and  his  own  ac- 
count is  too  characteristic  to  admit  of 
any  other  relating  it.  "  Being  now  set- 
tled in  that  sweet  and  civil  country 
of  Suffolk,  near  to  St.  Edmund's- 
Bury,  my  first  work  was  to  build  up 
my  house,  which  was  then  extremely 
ruinous ;  which  done,  the  uncouth 
solitariness  of  my  life,  and  the  ex- 
treme incommodityof  that  single  house- 
keeping, drew  my  thoughts,  after  two 
years,  to  condescend  to  tlie  necessity 
of  a  married  estate,  which  God  no 
« 

♦  From  the  above  narratire,  it  will  be  seen  that 
Wr.  Campbell  has  committed  an  oversight  in  sta- 
ting that  Hall'  was  some  time  master  of  the  school 
at  Tiverton,  in  Devonsliire." — DritUh  I'oets,  II. 
SCO.   He  was  never  actually  appointed. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL, 


37 


less  strangely  provided  for  me.  For 
walking  from  the  church  on  Monday 
in  the  Whitsunweek,  with  a  grave  and 
reverend  minister,  Mr.  Grandidge,  I 
saw  a  comely  modest  gentlewoman 
standing  at  the  door  of  that  house 
where  we  were  invited  to  a  wedding- 
dinner,  and  inquiring  of  that  worthy 
friend  whether  he  knew  her,  '  Yes,* 
quoth  he,  *  I  know  her  well,  and  have 
bespoken  her  for  your  wife.'  When  I 
further  demanded  an  account  of  that 
answer,  he  told  me  she  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  a  gentleman  whom  he  much 
respected,  Mr.  George  Winniff  of  Bre- 
tenham  ;  that  out  of  an  opinion  had 
of  the  fitness  of  that  match  for  me,  he 
had  already  treated  with  her  father 
about  it,  whom  he  found  very  apt  to 
entertain  it,  advising  me  not  to  neglect 


38        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

the  opportunity;  and  not  concealing 
the  just  praises  of  the  modesty,  piety, 
good  disposition,  and  other  virtues 
that  were  lodged  in  that  seemly  pre- 
sence, I  listened  to  the  motion  as  sent 
from  God,  and  at  last  upon  due  pro- 
secution happily  prevailed,  enjoying 
the  comfortable  society  of  that  meet 
help  for  the  space  of  forty-nine  years." 

The  increasing  comforts  of  Halsted 
Rectory  could  not  hinder  him  from 
listening  soon  after  to  a  proposal  made 
by  Sir  Edmund  Bacon,  that  he  should 
accompany  him  in  a  continental  tour. 
The  amount  of  enterprise  and  re- 
sources which  such  an  expedition  then 
demanded  can  scarcely  now  be  under- 
stood. In  those  days  the  travelhng 
retinue  of  a  nobleman  resembled  the 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  39 


Mecca  caravan,  and  he  marched  under 
an  escort  which  showed  that  he  was 
taking  his  pleasure  in  an  enemy's  coun- 
try. Mr.  Hall  possessed  a  high  degree 
of  that  noble  curiosity  which  compels 
some  to  labour  in  the  fire  for  know- 
ledge, whilst  others,  waiting  till  wisdom 
come,  grow  old  in  contented  igno- 
rance. No  one  in  reading  his  works  can 
fail  to  be  struck  with  the  indications 
of  a  busy,  quick,  and  observant  eye. 
Many  of  his  most  striking  and  original 
remarks  are  the  result  of  sagaciously 
noting,  and  dexterously  applying  what 
passes  before  the  eyes  of  other  men 
too  often  to  appear  uncommon,  that 
is,  to  appear  in  any  way  remarkable. 
But  the  prospect  of  exploring  a  field 
then  so  seldom  traversed  dilated  his 
mind  with  absolute  ecstasy,  and  he 


40        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


rejoiced  in  the  ungathered  harvest  of 
knowledge  which  it  promised.  Above 
all,  he  wished  to  visit  a  Roman  Ca- 
tholic country.  He  longed  to  behold 
popery  in  reality;  not  the  crippled 
crouching  thing  which  prolonged  a 
skulking  existence  in  England,  but  the 
stalwart  galled  and  raging  ApoUyon 
that  stalked  tremendously  through  Eu- 
rope. Sir  Edmund  travelled  in  the 
protection  of  the  English  ambassador, 
and  for  farther  concealment,  Mr.  Hall 
exchanged  his  canonicals  for  the  silken 
robes  and  gay  colours  of  a  fashionable 
English  gentleman.  And  notwithstand- 
ing the  frequent  debates  into  which  his 
zeal  betrayed  him  amongst  Jesuits  and 
friars,  the  suspicious  excellence  of  his 
Latin,  and  the  sturdy  protestantism, 
which  only    the  hulk  of  a  tall  Braban- 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  41 


ter"  saved  from  martyrdom  at  the  pro- 
cession of  John  the  Baptist,  he  passed 
undetected  from  Calais  to  Brussels, 
from  Nemours  to  Spa,  and  then,  re- 
turning, to  Antwerp  and  Middleburgh. 
It  was  our  traveller's  anxiety  to  view 
the  ancient  college  of  this  last  city, 
which  lost  him  his  voyage  home.  He 
left  his  party  at  Flushing,  and  hngered 
so  long  at  Middleburgh,  that  his  friends 
availed  themselves  of  a  favourable 
wind,  and  he  arrived  in  time  to  gaze 
hopelessly  after  their  vessel  now  far  at 
sea.  "  Sadly  returning  to  Middleburgh, 
he  waited  long  for  an  inconvenient  and 
tempestuous  passage."  In  his  epistles 
he  has  given  an  account  of  this  expe- 
dition, an  extract  from  which  will  serve 
the  additional  purpose  of  enabling  the 
reader  to  compare  his  earlier  —  more 


42        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

quaint,  dense,  cramp,  and  antithetic  — 
with  his  later  style.  His  six  Decads 
of  Epistles  are  the  first  specimens  of 
that  familiar  and  delightful  composi- 
tion since  so  common  in  our  language. 
He  claims  this  merit  for  himself,  and 
we  do  not  know  of  any  British  author 
who  published  letters  of  his  own  before 
him. 

**  Besides  my  hopes,  not  my  desires, 
I  travelled  of  late ;  for  knowledge  part- 
ly, and  partly  for  health.  There  was 
nothing  that  made  not  my  journey 
pleasant,  save  the  labour  of  the  way  : 
which  yet  was  so  sweetly  deceived  by 
the  society  of  Sir  Edmund  Bacon,  (a 
gentleman  truly  honourable,  beyond  all 
titles),  that  I  found  small  cause  to 
complain.  The  sea  brooked  not  me, 
nor  I  it;  an  unquiet  element,  made 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  ffALL.  43 


only  for  wonder  and  use,  not  for  plea- 
sure. Alighted  once  from  that  wooden 
conveyance,  and  uneven  way,  I  be- 
thought myself  how  fondly  our  life  is 
committed  to  an  unsteady  and  reeling 
piece  of  wood,  fickle  winds,  restless 
waters,  while  we  may  set  foot  on  sted- 
fast  and  constant  earth.  Lo,  then 
everything  taught  rae,  everything  de- 
lighted me;  so  ready  are  we  to  be  af- 
fected with  these  foreign  pleasures, 
which  at  home  we  should  overlook. 
I  saw  much  as  one  might  in  such  a 
span  of  earth  in  so  few  months.  The 
time  favoured  me :  for  now  newly  had 
the  key  of  peace  opened  those  parts 
which  war  had  before  closed ;  closed 
(I  say)  to  all  English,  save  either  fu- 
gitives or  captives.  All  civil  occurren- 
ces (as  what  fair  cities,  what  strange 


44        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL 

fashions,  entertainments,  dangers,  de- 
lights, we  found),  are  fit  for  other  ears 
and  winter  evenings.  What  I  noted, 
as  a  divine  within  the  sphere  of  my 
profession,  my  paper  shall  not  spare 
in  some  part  to  report. 

"  Along  oar  way,  how  many  church- 
es saw  we  demolished!  Nothing  left, 
but  rude  heaps,  to  tell  the  passenger 
there  hath  been  both  devotion  and 
hostility.  Fury  hath  done  that  there, 
which  Covetousness  would  do  with 
us;  would  do,  but  shall  not:  the  truth 
within  shall  save  tire  walls  without. 
And,  to  speak  truly  (whatever  the  vul- 
gar exclaim).  Idolatry  pulled  down 
those  walls,  not  rage.  If  there  had 
been  no  Hollander  to  raze  them,  they 
would  have  fallen  alone  rather  than 
hide  so  mucli  impiety  under  their  guilty 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  45 


roof.  These  are  spectacles,  not  so 
much  of  cruelty  as  justice  ;  cruelty  of 
man,  justice  of  God.  But  (which  I 
wondered  at)  churches  fall  and  jesuits' 
colleges  rise  everywhere.  There  is  no 
city  where  those  are  not  either  rearing 
or  built.  Whence  cometh  this?  Is  it, 
for  that  devotion  is  not  so  necessary 
as  policy  ?  Those  men  (as  we  say  of 
the  fox)  fare  best  where  they  are  most 
cursed.  None  so  much  spited  of  their 
own,  none  so  hated  of  all,  none  so 
opposed  by  ours;  and  yet  these  ill 
weeds  grow.  Whosoever  lives  long 
shall  see  them  feared  of  their  own^ 
who  now  hate  them ;  shall  see  these 
seven  lean  kine  devour  all  the  fat 
beasts  that  feed  on  the  meadows  oi 
Tiber. 

"  At  Brussels  I  saw  some  English 


46         LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

women  profess  themselves  vestals, 
with  a  thousand  rites,  I  know  not 
whether  more  ridiculous  or  magical. 
Poor  souls !  they  could  not  be  fools 
enough  at  home.  It  would  have  made 
you  to  pity,  laugh,  disdain  (I  know 
not  which  more),  to  see  by  what  cun- 
ning sleights  and  fair  pretences  that 
weak  sex  was  fetched  into  a  wilful 
bondage  ;  and  (if  these  two  can  agree) 
willingly  constrained  to  serve  a  master 
whom  they  must  and  cannot  obey. 
What  follows  hence ?■  Late  sorrow, 
secret  mischief,  misery  irremediable. 

*'  I  talked  there,  in  more  boldness 
perhaps  than  wisdom,  with  Costerus, 
a  famous  jesuit,  an  old  man,  more 
testy  than  subtile,  and  more  able  to 
wrangle  than  satisfy.    Our  discourse 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  4? 


was  long  and  roving;  and  on  his  part 
full  both  of  words  and  vehemency.  He 
spake  as  at  home,  I  as  a  stranger :  yet 
so  as  he  saw  me  modestly  peremptory. 
The  particulars  would  swell  my  letter 
too  much:  it  is  enough  that  the  truth 
lost  less  than  I  gained. 

*•  At  Ghent,  a  city  that  commands 
reverence  for  age  and  wonder  for  the 
greatness,  we  fell  upon  a  capuchin  no- 
vice, who  wept  bitterly  because  he  was 
not  allowed  to  make  himself  miserable. 
His  head  had  now  felt  the  razor,  his 
back  the  rod:  all  that  laconical  dis- 
cipline pleased  him  well,  which  another 
being  condemned  to,  would  justly  ac- 
count a  torment.  What  hindered  tlien? 
Piety  to  his  mother  would  not  permit 
this  which  he  thought  piety  to  God. 


48        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL, 

He  could  not  be  a  willing  beggar,  un- 
less his  mother  would  beg  unwillingly. 
He  was  the  only  heir  of  his  father,  the 
only  stay  of  his  mother :  the  comfort 
of  her  widowhood  depended  on  this 
her  orphan;  who  now  naked  must 
enter  into  the  world  of  the  capuchins, 
as  he  came  first  into  this,  leaving  his 
goods  to  the  division  of  the  fraternity 
—  the  least  part  whereof  should  have 
been  hers,  whose  he  wished  all.  Hence" 
those  tears.  These  men  for  devout, 
the  Jesuits  for  learned  and  pragmatical, 
have  engrossed  all  opinion  from  other 
orders.  0  hypocrisy  I  No  capuchin 
may  take  or  touch  silver.  This  metal 
IS  as  very  an  anathema  to  them,  as. 
the  wedge  of  gold  to  Achan;  at  the 
offer  whereof  he  starts  back,  as  Moses 
from  the  serpent;  yet  he  carries  a  boy 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  49 


with  him,  that  takes  and  carries  it, 
and  never  complains  of  either  metal 
or  measure.  I  saw  and  laughed  at  it, 
and  by  this  open  trick  of  hypocrisy 
suspected  more,  more  close. 

"  At  Nemours,  on  a  pleasant  and 
steep  hill-top,  we  found  one  that  was 
termed  a  married  hermit ;  approving 
his  wisdom  above  his  fellows,  that 
could  make  choice  of  so  cheerful  and 
sociable  a  soUtariness.  Whence,  after 
a  delightful  passage  up  the  sweet  river 
Mosa,  we  visited  the  populous  and  rich 
city  of  Leodium  (Liege.)  I  would 
those  streets  were  more  moist  with 
wine  than  with  blood;  wherein  no 
day,  no  night,  is  not  dismal  to  seme. 
No  law,  no  magistrate  lays  hold  on 
the  known  murderer  if  liimself  list ; 


50        LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 

for  three  days  after  the  fact,  the  gates 
are  open  and  justice  shut :  private  vio- 
lence may  pursue  him,  public  justice 
cannot :  whence  some  of  more  hot 
temper  carve  themselves  revenge; 
others  take  up  with  a  small  pecuniary 
satisfaction.  O  England,  thought  I, 
happy  for  justice,  happy  for  security  1 
There  you  shall  find  in  every  corner 
a  maumet  (image) ;  at  every  door  a 
beggar,  in  every  dish  a  priest.  From 
thence  we  passed  to  the  Spa,  a  village 
famous  for  her  medicinal  and  mineral 
waters,  compounded  of  iron  and  cop- 
peras ;  the  virtue  whereof  yet  the 
simple  inhabitant  ascribes  to  their 
beneficial  saint,  whose  heavy  foot  hath 
made  an  ill-shaped  impression  in  a 
stone  of  the  upper  well :  —  a  water 
more  wholesome  than  pleasant,  and 
yet  more  famous  than  wholesome. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  51 

**  One  thing  I  may  not  omit  with- 
out sinful  oversight;  a  short  but  memo- 
rable story  which  the  graphier  of  that 
town  (though  of  different  religion)  re- 
ported to  more  ears  than  ours.  When 
the  last  inquisition  tyrannized  in  those 
parts,  and  helped  to  spend  the  faggots 
of  Ardenne,  one  of  the  rest,  a  confi- 
dent confessor,  being  led  far  to  his 
stake,  sung  psalms  along  the  way,  in 
a  heavenly  courage  and  victorious  tri- 
umph. The  cruel  officer,  envying  his 
last  mirth,  and  grieving  to  see  him 
merrier  than  his  tormentors,  command- 
ed him  silence.  He  sings  still,  as  de- 
sirous to  improve  his  last  breath  to 
the  best.  The  view  of  his  approach- 
ing glory  bred  his  joy  ;  his  joy  breaks 
forth  into  a  cheerful  confession.  The 
enraged  sheriff  causes  his  tongue  to 


52        LIFE  OF  BISHOf  HALL. 

be  cut  off  near  the  roots.  Bloody 
wretch  !  It  had  been  good  music  to 
have  heard  his  shrieks  ;  but  to  hear 
his  music  was  torment.  The  poor 
martyr  dies  in  silence,  rests  in  peace. 
Not  many  months  after,  our  butcherly 
oflBcer  hath  a  son  born  with  his  tongue 
hanging  down  upon  his  chin,  like  a 
deer  after  long  chase,  which  never 
could  be  gathered  up  within  the  bounds 
of  his  lips.  O  the  divine  hand,  full 
of  justice,  full  of  revenge  ! 

"  Let  me  tell  you  yet,  ere  I  take  off 
my  pen,  two  wonders  more,  which  I 
saw  in  that  wonder  of  cities,  Antwerp  ; 
—  one  a  solemn  mass  in  a  shambles, 
and  that  on  God's  day  j  while  the 
house  was  full  of  meat,  of  butchers, 
of  buyers  ;  some  kneeling,  others  bar- 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


53 


gaining,  most  talking,  all  busy.  It  was 
strange  to  see  one  house  sacred  to  God 
and  the  belly,  and  how  these  two  ser- 
vices agreed.  The  priests  did  eat  flesh, 
the  butchers  sold  flesh,  in  one  roof  at 
one  instant.  The  butcher  killed  and 
sold  it  by  pieces  ;  the  priest  did  sacri- 
fice, and  orally  devour  it  whole.*  The 
other, —an  Englishman,  so  madly  de- 
vout that  he  had  wilfully  housed  up 
himself  as  an  anchorite,  the  worst  of 
all  prisoners.  There  sat  he,  pent  up 
for  his  farther  merit,  half  hunger-starved 
for  the  charity  of  the  citizens.  It  was 
worth  seeing  how  manly  he  could  bite 
in  his  secret  want,  and  dissemble  his 
over-late  repentance.  I  cannot  com- 
mend his  mortification,  if  he  wish  to 

•  We  need  scarcely  say  that  the  author  alludes  to 
that  monstrous  tenet  of  popery,  transubstantiation. 


54        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

be  in  heaven ;  yea  in  purgatory,  to  be 
delivered  from  thence.  I  durst  not 
pity  him,  because  his  durance  was 
willing,  and  as  he  hoped  meritorious ; 
but  such  encouragement  as  he  had 
from  me,  such  thank  shall  he  have 
from  God,  who,  instead  of  an  Euge 
which  he  looks  for,  shall  angrily  chal- 
lenge him  with  '  who  required  this  ^ ' " 

The  interview  with  Father  Costerus, 
to  which  Mr.  Hall  alludes  in  the  fore- 
going letter,  has  been  recorded  else- 
where, and  is  characteristic  of  the 
times.  It  often  happens  that  the  pre- 
vailing notions  of  the  day  supply  argu- 
ments for  some  great  truth,  to  which 
controversiaUsts  resort  more  eagerly, 
and  on  whicn  they  are  disposed  to  lay 
greater  stress,  than  on  those  proofs 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL, 


55 


which  are  alike  weighty  and  conclusive 
in  every  age.  It  has  been  said,  that 
our  metaphysical  countryman  Andrew 
Baxter,  in  his  book  on  the  Immateria- 
lity of  the  Soul,  perplexed  the  sceptics 
of  his  time  by  a  reference  to  nocturnal 
apparitions  more  than  by  all  his  other 
reasonings  ;  and  if  they  were  so  incon- 
sistent in  their  credulity,  we  can  scarcely 
conceive  anything  fairer  or  more  irre- 
sistible as  an  argumentum  ad  homines, 
however  inefficacious  it  may  be  in  the 
altered  belief  of  the  present  generation. 
It  was  similar  ground  which  our  pro- 
testant  divine  occupied  in  common 
with  his  popish  antagonist,  without 
any  suspicion  of  its  soundness.  An 
English  barrister,  a  proselyte  to  po- 
pery, and  resident  at  Brussels,  was  nar- 
rating to  Sir  Edmund  Bacon,  in  a  style 


56        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


of  extravagant  hyperbole,  the  won- 
ders lately  performed  by  our-  Lady  at 
Zichem ;  and  to  silence  the  shrewd 
objections  of  the  worthy  knight,  had 
instanced  a  cure  miraculously  wrought 
upon  himself.  At  this  moment  Mr. 
Hall  entered  the  apartment,  and,  there 
being  nothing  in  his  dress  to  indicate 
his  profession,  joined  freely  in  the  con- 
versation. Put  case  this  report  of 
your's  be  'granted  for  true,  I  beseech 
you  teach  me  what  difference  there  is 
betwixt  these  miracles  and  those  which 
were  wrought  by  Vespasian,*  by  some 

«  When  Vespasian  was  at  Alexandria  in  Egypt, 
two  men  came  to  him  as  he  was  presiding  in  a 
court  of  justice,  the  one  to  all  appearance  blind, 
and  the  other  lame,  soliciting  a  cure.  He  at  first 
declined  to  interfere,  but  at  the  solicitation  of  his 
courtiers  he  was  persuaded  to  impart  the  healing 
rite,  which  Serapis  had  indicated  to  the  applicants 
m  a  dream.  Nec  eventus  defuit,"  adds  Sueto- 
toxiius ;  and  we  may  believe  that  the  success  was 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  57 


vestals  with  charms  and  spells  ;  the 
rather  that  I  have  noted  in  the  late 
published  report,  some  patient  pre- 
scribed to  come  upon  a  Friday,  and 
some  to  wash  in  such  a  well  before 
their  approach,  and  divers  other  such 
charm-like  operations."  The  confi- 
dent tone  of  the  lawyer  was  suddenly 
lowered  by  this  unexpected  interro- 
gatory, and  he  excused  himself  from 
a  reply,  saying,  "  I  do  not  profess  this 
kind  of  scholarship  ;  but  we  have  in 
the  city  many  famous  divines,  with 
whom  if  it  would  please  you  to  confer, 
you  might  sooner  receive  satisfaction." 
Mr.  Hall  asked  who  was  considered 

as  great  as  a  collusion  betwixt  the  Egyptian  priests 
and  the  emperor  could  secure.  Sueionii,  Vespas. 
cap.  7.  Taciti  Hist.  IV.  81.  For  the  remarks  of 
Lardner  see  his  Works,  voL  IIL  p..  412,  quarto 
edition. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

the  most  eminent  divine  of  the  place. 
The  English  gentleman  named  Father 
Costerus,  and  undertook  to  secure  him 
a  conference,  to  which  Mr.  H.  gladly 
acceded.  Accordingly,  in  the  after- 
noon the  zealous  Romanist  returned 
to  announce  that  the  father  had  agreed 
to  the  interview,  and  to  accompany 
him  to  the  Jesuits'  College.  There 
arrived,  the  porter  opened  the  gate, 
and  ejaculating  a  Deo  gratias,  ad- 
mitted the  stranger.  He  did  not  re- 
main long  in  the  hall  till  Costerus 
joined  him.  After  a  friendly  salutation, 
the  priest  ran  on  in  a  long  and  formal 
oration  on  the  unity  of  that  church  in 
which  alone  men  can  be  saved,  when 
Mr.  Hall  took  advantage  of  the  first 
moment  which  civility  allowed  to  in- 
terrupt him.  "  Sir,  I  beseech  you  mis- 


LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 


59 


take  me  not.  My  nation  tells  you  of 
what  religion  I  am.  I  come  not  hither 
out  of  any  doubt  of  my  professed  be- 
lief, or  any  purpose  to  change  it ;  but 
moving  a  question  to  this  gentleman 
concerning  the  pretended  miracles  of 
the  time,  he  pleased  to  refer  me  to 
yourself  for  my  answer;  which  motion 
of  his  I  was  the  more  willing  to  em- 
brace, for  the  fame  that  I  have  heard 
of  your  learning  and  worth.  And  if 
you  can  give  me  satisfaction  herein,  I 
am  ready  to  receive  it."  So  seating 
themselves  at  a  table  in  the  end  of  the 
hall,  they  prepared  for  a  vigorous  en- 
counter. The  Jesuit  commenced  by 
giving  his  view  of  the  distinction  be- 
tween miracles  diabolical  and  divine, 
Mr.  Hall  was  not  satisfied,  and  stated 
his  objections.    Upon  this  his  oppo- 


60        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

nent  diverged  into  a  vehement  as 
sault  on  the  English  church,  which 
he  protested  could  not  yield  one  mi- 
racle. Mr.  Hall  reclaimed,  that  in  his 
church  they  had  manifest  proofs  of  the 
ejection  of  devils  by  fasting  and  prayer 
•*  If  it  can  be  proved,"  cried  Costerus, 
"  that  ever  any  devil  was  dispossessed 
in  your  church,  I  shall  quit  my  reli- 
gion." In  the  long  and  keen  debate 
which  followed,  Mr.  Hall  started  many 
questions  to  which  his  antagonist  could 
give  no  satisfactory  answers.  They 
soon  obtained  an  additional  auditor  in 
Father  Baldwin,  an  English  Jesuit, 
who  came  in  and  seated  himself  on  a 
form  at  the  other  end  of  the  table,  and 
seemed  not  a  little  mortified  that  a 
gentleman  of  his  nation  should  leave 
the  college  as  unenlightened  as  he 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  61 


came.  The  next  morning  the  perse- 
vering lawyer  arrived  with  a  message 
from  this  father,  expressing  his  disap- 
pointment that  an  Englishman  should 
have  preferred  a  conference  with  a 
foreigner,  when  he  would  have  been 
happy  to  have  his  acquaintance  and  to 
give  him  satisfaction.  Mr.  Hall  would 
as  willingly  have  made  arrangements 
for  this  interview  as  for  the  former,  had 
not  a  secret  signal  from  Sir  Edmund 
reminded  him  that  they  came  to  travel, 
not  to  argue-,  and  that  their  safe-con- 
duct would  not  be  strengthened  by  an 
additional  debate.  Father  Baldwin's 
message  was  therefore  politely  declined, 
Mr.  Hall  having  no  hope  of  converting 
the  priest,  and  being  resolved  that  no 
papist  should  alter  him. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  mention, 


62        LIFE  OP  SISHOP  HALL. 

as  justifying  an  objection  to  the  Eng- 
lish ritual  strongly  urged  by  the  Pres- 
byterians of  that  day,  that  in  his  voyage 
up  the  Maese,  Mr.  Hall  had  what  he 
calls  *'a  dangerous  conflict"  with  a 
Sorbonist  of  the  Carmelite  order,  on 
the  subject  of  the  Eucharist.  This 
friar  was  trying  to  persuade  the  com- 
pany, from  the  circumstance  of  their 
kneeling  at  the  sacrament,  that  the 
English  protestants  recognised  the  doc» 
trine  of  transubstantiation.  By  what 
arguments  Mr.  Hall  confuted  the  ca- 
lumny we  do  not  know;  but  the  debate 
waxed  so  hot,  that  Sir  Edmund  was 
constrained  to  interfere,  and  call  away 
his  polemical  friend  from  a  discussion 
more  manly  than  discreet,  in  a  country 
where  all  argument  against  the  esta- 
blished religion  was  prohibited  by  law: 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


63 


—  not,  however,  till  the  prior  indicated 
his  suspicions  to  the  bystanders,  by 
significantly  telling  them  that  he  had 
once  prepared  a  suit  of  green  satin  for 
his  travels  in  England.  Mr.  Hall  was 
afterwards  employed  by  his  Majesty 
King  James,  to  persuade  the  people  of 
Scotland  into  kneeling  at  the  com- 
munion ;  but  when  he  found  his 
church  claimed  by  Roman  Catholics 
on  the  ground  of  this  ceremony,  he 
might  well  have  shown  indulgence  for 
those  Presbyterians  who  saw  in  it  a 
remnant  of  popery. 

At  Spa  he  composed  the  second  of 
his  three  centuries  of  Meditations 
and  Vows."  They  were  the  results  of 
his  meditative  perambulations,  amidst 
scenery  whose  picturesque  and  historic 
charms  had  kindled  even  then  the 


64 


LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 


poefs  fervour.  He  composed  them 
while 

Ardennes  waved  above  him  hei  green  leaves. 
Dewy  with  nature's  tear-drops; 

but  though  himself  a  poet,  his  work 
records  no  sombre  nor  romantic  im- 
pressions. *'  The  mind  is  its  own 
place,"  and  the  thoughts  of  our  tra- 
veller were  never  more  at  home.  As 
the  productions  of  an.  able  pen,  these 
Meditations  reflect  lustre  on  the  ta- 
ients  of  their  author,  and  give  him  a 
good  claim  to  be  styled  the  Christian 
Seneca,  as  the  graceful  Apology  of 
Lactantius  conferred  on  that  father 
the  kindred  title  of  the  Christian  Ci- 
cero. Each  Meditation  embodies  some 
brief  reflection,  and  closes  with  a  prac- 
tical resolution:  in  this  last  respect 
reminding  us  of  perhaps  the  most  in- 
structive document  in  the  life  of  that 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  65 

wise  self-observer,  President  Edwards. 
They  are  all  precious,  as  revealing 
thoughts  which  had  long  dwelt  in  a 
sanctified  bosom,  as  recording  the  ani- 
madversions of  one  who  was  no  less 
sagacious  in  reading  the  hearts  of 
others  than  strict  in  watching  his  own, 
and  as  contributing  wise  directions  to 
others  advancing  in  the  same  heaven- 
ward journey.  No  reader  need  grudge 
a  few  extracts,  should  they  bring  him 
acquainted  with  a  work  never  to  be 
forgotten,  but  perhaps  not  sufficiently 
known  in  practical  divinity :  — 

"  As  there  is  a  foolish  wisdom,  so 
there  is  a  wise  ignorance,  in  not  pry- 
ing into  God's  ark,  in  not  inquiring 
into  things  not  revealed.  I  would  fain 
know  all  that  I  need,  and  all  that  I 
may.  I  leave  God's  secrets  to  himself 


66        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

It  is  happy  for  me  that  God  makes 
me  of  his  court,  though  not  of  his 
council." 

"  The  devil  himself  devised  that 
slander  of  early  holiness,  A  young  saint, 
an  old  devil.  Sometimes  young  devils 
have  proved  old  saints,  never  the  c«n 
trary :  but  true  saints  in  youth  do  al- 
ways form  angels  in  their  age.  I  will 
strive  to  be  ever  good ;  but  if  I  should 
not  find  myself  best  at  last,  I  should 
fear  I  was  never  good  at  all." 

*'  As  we  say.  There  would  be  no 
thieves,  if  there  were  no  receivers ;  so 
would  there  not  be  so  many  open 
mouths  to  detract  and  slander,  if  there 
were  not  so  many  open  ears  to  enter- 
tain them.  If  I  cannot  stop  another 
man's  mouth  from  speaking  ill,  I  will 
either  open  my  mouth  to  reprove  it, 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  67 

or  else  I  will  stop  mine  ears  from  hear- 
ing it ;  and  let  him  see  in  my  face  that 
he  hath  no  room  in  my  heart." 

"I  am  a  stranger  even  at  home  : 
therefore  if  the  dogs  of  the  world  bark 
at  me,  I  neither  care  nor  wonder." 

I  care  not  for  any  companion,  but 
such  as  may  teach  me  somewhat,  or 
learn  somewhat  of  me;  but  these  shall 
much  pleasure  me,  neither  know  I 
whether  more.  For  though  it  be  an 
excellent  thing  to  learn,  yet  I  learn 
but  to  teach  others." 

"  If  I  die,  the  world  shall  miss  me 
but  a  little  ;  I  shall  miss  it  less.  Not 
it  me  —  because  it  hath  such  store  of 
better  men :  not  I  it  — because  it  hath 
so  much  ill,  and  I  shall  have  so  much 
happiness." 


68        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

"  I  acknowledge  no  Master  of  Re- 
quests in  heaven  but  one  —  Christ  my 
Mediator.  I  know  I  cannot  be  so 
happy  as  not  to  need  him ;  nor  so 
miserable  that  he  should  contemn  me. 
Good  prayers  never  came  weeping 
home :  I  am  sure  I  shall  either  receive 
what  I  ask,  or  what  I  should  ask." 

I  never  loved  those  salamanders 
that  are  never  well  but  when  they  are 
in  the  fire  of  contention.  I  will  rather 
suffer  a  thousand  wrongs  than  offer 
one:  I  will  suffer  a  hundred,  rather 
than  return  one  :  I  will  suffer  many 
ere  I  complain  of  one,  and  endeavour 
to  right  it  by  contending.  I  have  ever 
found  that  to  strive  with  my  superior 
is  furious  ;  with  my  equal,  doubtful ; 
with  my  inferior,  sordid  and  base; 
wirh  any,  full  of  unquietness  " 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  69 

*•  Sudden  extremity  is  a  notable  trial 
of  faith.  The  faithful,  more  quickly 
than  any  casualty,  can  lift  up  his  heart 
to  his  stay  in  heaven  :  whereas  the 
worldling  stands  amazed  and  distraught 
with  the  evil,  because  he  hath  no 
refuge  to  fly  unto.  When,  therefore, 
some  sudden  stitch  girds  me  in  the 
side,  like  to  be  the  messenger  of  death; 
or  when  the  sword  of  my  enemy,  in 
an  unexpected  assault,  threatens  my 
body ;  I  will  seriously  note  how  I  am 
aflfected :  so  the  suddenest  evil,  as  it 
shall  not  come  unlooked-for,  shall  not 
go  away  unthought  of.  If  I  find  myself 
courageous  and  heavenly-minded,  I 
will  rejoice  in  the  truth  of  God's  grace 
in  me ;  knowing  that  one  drachm  of 
tried  faith  is  worth  a  whole  pound  of 
speculative ;  and  that  which  once  stood 


70        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

by  me  will  never  fail  me.  If  dejected 
and  heartless,  herein  I  will  acknow- 
ledge cause  of  humiliation,  and  with  all 
care  and  diligence  seek  to  store  myself 
against  the  danger  following." 

•*  I  will  be  ever  doing  something, 
that  either  God  when  he  cometh,  or 
Satan  when  he  tempted,  may  find  me 
busied." 

Each  day  is  a  new  life,  and  an 
abridgment  of  the  whole,  I  will  so 
live,  as  if  I  counted  every  day  my  first 
and  my  last ;  as  if  I  began  to  live  but 
then,  and  should  live  no  more  after- 
wards." 

**  Rareness  causes  wonder.  If  the 
sun  should  arise  but  once  on  the  earth, 
I  doubt  every  man  would  be  a  Persian, 
and  fall  down  and  worship  it." 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  71 

**  The  proud  man  hath  no  God ; 
the  envious  man  hath  no  neighbour ; 
the  angry  man  hath  not  himself." 

'*  I  observe  three  seasons  wherein 
a  wise  man  differs  not  from  a  fool : 
in  his  infancy,  in  sleep,  and  in  silence; 
for  in  the  two  former,  we  are  all  fools, 
and  in  silence  all  are  wise.  Surely,  he 
is  not  a  fool  that  hath  unwise  thoughts, 
but  he  that  utters  them.  Even  con- 
cealed folly  is  wisdom,  and  sometimes, 
wisdom  uttered  is  folly.  While  others 
care  how  to  speak,  my  care  shall  be 
how  to  hold  my  peace. 

Extremity  distinguisheth  friends. 
Worldly  pleasures,  like  physicians,  give 
us  over  when  once  we  lie  a-dying ; 
and  yet  the  death-bed  had  most  need 


72        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

of  comforts.  Christ  Jesus  standeth  by 
his  in  the  pangs  of  death,  and  after 
death  at  the  bar  of  judgment,  not 
leaving  them  either  in  their  bed  or  ia 
their  grave." 

The  living  at  Halsted  was  small, 
and,  notwithstanding  the  moderate  de- 
sires of  the  incumbent,  so  inadequate 
that  he  was  forced  "  to  write  books  to 
buy  books."  He  applied  to  the  pa- 
tron for  an  augmentation  of  ten  pounds 
per  annum — a  demand  in  itself  not 
exorbitant,  and  only  just,  when  it  is 
remembered  that  Sir  Robert  Drury, 
by  an  abuse  of  power  then  frequent, 
was  appropriating  to  his  own  uses  a 
portion  of  the  minister's  emoluments. 
Sir  Robert's  refusal  to  comply  with 
Mr.  Hall's  request,  prepared  him  to 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


73 


accept  any  preferment  that  might  be 
offered  him.  And  he  soon  had  more 
than  he  desired.  For  during  a  visit 
to  London  he  was  sought  out  by  a 
friend,  who  came  to  tell  him  the  high 
acceptance  which  his  Meditations  had 
obtained  at  the  court  of  Prince  Henry, 
and  to  urge  him  to  embrace  an  oppor- 
tunity of  preaching  before  his  High- 
ness. Mr.  Hall  was  then  confined  to 
his  lodgings  in  Drury  Lane  by  a  se- 
vere cold.  *'  I  strongly  pleaded  my 
indisposition  of  body,  and  my  inpre- 
paration  for  any  such  work,  together 
with  my  bashful  fears,  and  utter  un- 
fitness for  such  a  presence.  My 
averseness  doubled  his  importunity; 
in  fine,  he  left  me  not  till  he  had  my 
engagement  to  preach  the  Sunday  fol- 
lowing at  Richmond.    He  made  way 


74        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

for  me  to  that  awful  pulpit,  and  en- 
couraged me  by  the  favour  of  his  noble 
lord  the  Earl  of  Essex.  I  preached : 
through  the  favour  of  my  God,  that 
sermon  was  so  well  given  as  taken ; 
insomuch  as  that  sweet  prince  signified 
his  desire  to  hear  me  again  the  Tues- 
day following  ;  which  done,  that  la- 
bour gave  more  contentment  than  the 
former,  so  as  that  prince  both  gave 
me  his  hand,  and  commanded  me  to  his 
service.  My  patron  seeing  me,  upon 
my  return  to  London,  looked  after  by 
some  great  persons,  began  to  wish  me 
at  home,  and  told  me  that  some  or 
other  would  be  snatching  me  up.  I 
answered,  it  was  in  his  power  to  pre- 
vent :  Would  he  be  pleased  to  make 
my  maintenance  but  so  competent  as 
in  right  it  should  be    I  would  never 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  75 


Stir  from  him.  Instead  of  condescend- 
ing, it  pleased  him  to  fall  into  an  ex- 
postulation of  the  rate  of  competen- 
cies, affirming  the  variableness  thereof 
according  to  our  own  estimation,  and 
our  either  raising  or  moderating  the 
causes  of  our  expenses.  I  showed  him 
the  insufficiency  of  my  means  ;  but  a 
harsh  and  unpleasing  answer  so  dis- 
heartened me,  that  I  resolved  to  em- 
brace the  first  opportunity  of  my  re- 
move. 

"  Now,  whilst  I  was  taken  up  with 
these  anxious  thoughts,  a  messenger 
came  to  me  from  my  Lord  Denny,  my 
after  most  honourable  patron,  entreat- 
ing me  from  his  Lordship  to  speak 
with  him.  No  sooner  came  I  thither, 
than  after  a  glad  and  noble  welcome. 


76        LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 

I  was  entertained  with  the  earnest 
offer  of  Waltham.  The  conditions 
were,  like  the  mover  of  them,  free 
and  bountiful.  I  received  them  as 
from  the  munificent  hand  of  my  God; 
and  returned  full  of  the  cheerful  ac- 
knowledgments of  a  gracious  provi- 
dence over  me.  Too  late  now  did  my 
former  noble  patron  relent,  and  offer 
me  those  terms  which  had  before  fast- 
ened me  for  ever.  I  returned  home 
happy  in  a  new  master,  and  in  a  new 
patron  ;  betwixt  whom  I  divided  my- 
self and  my  labours,  with  much  com- 
fort, and  no  less  acceptation. 

"  In  the  second  3'ear  of  mine  atten- 
dance on  his  highness,  when  I  came 
for  my  dismission  from  that  monthly 
service,  it  pleased  the  prince  to  cora- 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  77 


mand  me  a  longer  stay ;  and  at  last 
upon  mine  allowed  departure,  by  the 
mouth  of  Sir  Thomas  Challoner,  his 
governor,  to  tender  unto  me  a  motion 
of  more  honour  and  favour  than  I  was 
worthy  of ;  which  was,  that  it  was  his 
highness'  pleasure  and  purpose  to  have 
me  continually  resident  at  the  court  as 
a  constant  attendant,  whilst  the  rest 
held  on  their  wonted  vicisitudes ;  for 
which  purpose  his  highness  would  ob- 
tain for  me  such  preferments  as  should 
yield  me  full  contentment.  I  returned 
my  humblest  thanks,  and  my  reiadi- 
ness  to  sacrifice  myself  to  the  service 
of  so  gracious  a  master ;  but  being  con- 
scious to  myself  of  my  unanswerable- 
ness  to  so  great  expectation,  and  loath 
to  forsake  so  dear  and  noble  a  patron, 
who  had  placed  much  of  his  heart  up- 


78        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

on  me,  I  did  modestly  put  it  off,  and 
held  close  to  my  Walthamj  where  in 
a  constant  course  I  preached  a  long 
time  (as  I  had  done  also  at  Halsted 
before)  thrice  in  the  week ;  yet  never 
durst  I  climb  into  the  pulpit  to  preach 
any  sermon,  whereof  I  had  not  before, 
in  my  poor  and  plain  fashion,  penned 
every  word  in  the  same  order  wherein 
I  hoped  to  deliver  it,  although  in  the 
expression  I  listed  not  to  be  a  slave  to 
syllables." 

His  attendance  at  court  did  not'long 
detam  Him  from  the  undivided  per- 
formance of  his  pastoral  duties  at  Wal- 
tham;  for  the  hopes  of  the  nation  were 
quickly  prostrated  by  the  death  of  the 
amiable  prince,  which  occurred  Nov.  6, 
1612;  and  on  the  first  day  of  the  fol 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  "9 


lowing  year  Mr.  Hall  discharged  the 
last  office  of  a  love  -w^iich  had  sup- 
planted the  deference  of  the  courtier, 
by  preaching  a  farewell  sermon  to  the 
prince's  household,  then  dissolved  at 
St.  James's.  The  discourse  contains 
repeated  testimonies  of  the  grateful  and 
affectionate  admiration  with  which  the 
chaplain  cherished  the  memory  of  his 
illustrious  patron — testimonies  which 
royal  station  has  seldom  so  justly  merit- 
ed. But  history  has  recorded  the  en- 
gaging character  of  King  James's  eldest 
son  so  fully,  as  to  supersede  any  extracts 
from  this  ardent  eulogy.  The  closing 
sentences,  however,  possess  a  pathos 
and  an  appropriateness  to  the  text 
(Rev.  xxi.  3)  which  will  justify  their 
insertion  here  :  —  "  But  what  if  we 
shall  meet  here  no  more?  —  what  if 


80        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

we  shall  no  more  see  one  another's 
face?  Brethren,  we  shall  once  meet 
together  above ;  we  shall  once  see  the 
glorious  face  of  God,  and  never  look 
off  again.  Let  it  not  overgrieve  us  to 
leave  these  tabernacles  of  stone,  since 
we  must  shortly  lay  down  these  taber- 
nacles of  clay,  and  enter  into  taber- 
nacles not  made  with  hands,  eternal 
in  the  heavens.  Till  then,  farewell, 
my  dear  brethren,  farewell  in  the  Lord. 
Go  in  peace,  and  live  as  those  that 
have  lost  such  a  master,  and  as  those 
that  serve  a  Master  whom  they  cannot 
lose.  And  the  God  of  peace  go  with 
you,  and  prosper  you  in  all  your  ways, 
and  so  fix  his  tabernacle  in  you  upon 
earth,  that  you  may  be  received  into 
those  tabernacles  of  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem, and  dwell  with  him  for  ever  in 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  81 

that  glory  which  he  hath  provided  for 
all  that  love  him.  Amen." 

The  sixteen  years  which  Mr.  Hall 
spent  at  Waltham  were  among  the 
most  pleasant  of  his  life,  for  they  were 
the  least  distracted.  His  circumstances 
freed  him  from  worldly  solicitudes ;  the 
national  convulsions  which  agitated  his 
old  age,  of  which  he  was  sometimes  the 
sorrowful  witness,  and  sometimes  the 
unoffending  victim,  had  not  commen- 
ced; his  home  was  the  shining  abode  of 
that  happiness,  a  beam  of  which  occa- 
sionally brightens  upon  his  pages ;  and 
in  that  home  no  apartment  was  more 
loved  or  frequented  than  his  study. 
What  Hall  has  already  described  no 
other  should  attempt  to  teU;  and  we 
do  not  believe  that  any  reader  ever 


82        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

complained  of  the  length  of  the  fol- 
lowing letter,  which  gives  in  brief  the 
distribution  of  this  good  man's  time  for 
many  years  together.  It  will  possess 
an  additional  value  to  those  whose 
distinguished  prerogative  has  placed 
them  in  situations  of  like  advantage : — 
"  Every  day  is  a  little  life,  and  our 
whole  life  is  but  a  day  repeated :  whence 
it  is  that  old  Jacob  numbered  his  life 
by  days,  and  Moses  desired  to  be  taught 
this  point  of  holy  arithmetic,  to  num- 
ber not  his  years  but  his  days.  Those, 
therefore,  that  dare  lose  a  day  are 
dangerously  prodigal,  those  that  dare 
misspend  it  desperate.  All  days  are 
his  who  gave  time  a  beginning  and 
continuance ;  yet  some  he  hath  made 
ours,  not  to  command  but  to  use.  In 
none  may  we  forget  him ;  in  some  we 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


93 


must  forget  all  besides  him.  First, 
therefore,  I  desire  to  awake  at  those 
hours,  not  when  I  will,  but  when  I 
must:  pleasure  is  not  a  fit  rule  for  rest, 
but  health;  neither  do  I  consult  so 
much  with  the  sun,  as  with  mine  own 
necessity,  whether  of  body  or  in  that 
of  the  mind.  If  this  vassal  could  well 
serve  me  waking,  it  should  never 
sleep;  but  now  it  must  be  pleased  that 
it  may  be  serviceable.  Now,  when 
sleep  is  rather  driven  away  than  leaves 
me,  I  would  ever  awake  with  God ;  my 
first  thoughts  are  for  Him  who  hath 
made  the  night  for  rest,  and  the  day 
for  travail;  and  as  he  gives,  so  blesses 
both.  If  my  heart  be  early  seasoned 
with  his  presence,  it  will  savour  of  him 
all  day  after.  While  my  body  is  dress- 
ing, not  with  an  effeminate  curiosity. 


84        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

nor  yet  with  rude  neglect,  my  mind 
addresses  itself  to  her  ensuing  task, 
bethinking  what  is  to  be  done,  and  in 
what  order,  and  marshalling  (as  it  may) 
my  hours  with  my  work.  Tliat  done, 
after  some  while's  meditation,  I  walk 
up  to  my  masters  and  companions, 
my  books ;  and  sitting  down  amongst 
them  with  the  best  contentment,  I 
dare  not  reach  forth  my  hand  to  salute 
any  of  them,  till  I  have  first  looked  up 
to  heaven,  and  craved  favour  of  Him 
to  whom  all  my  studies  are  duly  re- 
ferred; without  whom  I  can  neither 
profit  nor  labour.  After  this,  out  of  no 
great  variety,  I  call  forth  those  which 
may  best  fit  my  occasions,  wherein  I 
am  not  too  scrupulous  of  age.  Some- 
times I  put  myself  to  school  to  one  of 
those  ancients  whom  the  Church  hath 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


85 


honoured  with  the  name  of  Fathers, 
whose  volumes  I  confess  not  to  open 
without  a  secret  reverence  of  their 
holiness  and  gravity;  sometimes  to 
those  later  Doctors,  who  want  nothing 
but  age  to  make  them  classical;  al- 
ways to  God's  book.  That  day  is  lost, 
whereof  some  hours  are  not  improved 
in  those  divine  monuments:  others  I 
turn  over  out  of  choice,  these  out 
of  duty.  Ere  I  can  have  sate  unto 
weariness,  my  family,  havijig  now  over- 
come all  household  distractions,  invite 
me  to  our  common  devotions;  not 
without  some  short  preparation.  These, 
heartily  performed,  send  me  up  with  a 
more  strong  and  cheerful  appetite  to 
my  former  work,  which  I  find  made 
easy  to  me  by  intermission  and  variety. 
Now,  therefore,  can  I  deceive  the 


86        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

hours  with  change  of  pleasures,  that 
is,  of  labours.  One  while  my  eyes  are 
busied,  another  while  my  hand,  and 
sometimes  my  mind  takes  the  burden 
from  them  both.  One  hour  is  spent 
in  textual  divinity,  another  in  contro- 
versy ;  histories  reliere  them  both. 
Now,  when  my  mind  is  weary  of  others* 
labours,  it  begins  to  undertake  its  own : 
sometimes  it  meditates,  and  winds  up 
for  future  use;  sometimes  it  lays  forth 
its  conceits  into  present  discourse, 
sometimes  for  itself,  often  for  others. 
Neither  know  I  whether  it  works  or 
plays  in  these  thoughts ;  I  am  sure  no 
sport  hath  more  pleasure,  no  work 
more  use.  Only  the  decay  of  a  weak 
body  makes  me  think  these  delights  in- 
sensibly laborious.  Thus  could  I  all 
day  (as  ringers  use)  make  myself  music 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  87 


with  changes,  were  it  not  that  this 
faint  monitor  interrupts  me  still  in  the 
midst  of  my  busy  pleasures,  and  en- 
forces me  both  to  respite  and  repast. 
I  must  yield  to  both;  while  my  body 
and  mind  are  joined  together  in  these 
unequal  couples,  the  better  must  fol- 
low the  weaker.  Before  my  meals, 
therefore,  and  after,  I  let  myself  loose 
from  all  thoughts,  and  now  would  for- 
get that  I  evdl-  studied.  A  full  mind 
takes  away  the  body's  appetite,  no  less 
than  a  full  body  makes  a  dull  and  un- 
wieldy mind.  Company,  discourse,  re- 
creations, are  now  seasonable  and 
welcome.  These  prepare  me  for  a 
diet,  not  gluttonous  but  medicinal. 
The  palate  may  not  be  pleased,  but  the 
stomach,  nor  that  for  its  own  sake; 
neither  would  I  think  any  of  these 


S8        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

comforts  worth  respect  in  themselves, 
but  in  their  use,  in  their  end,  so  far 
as  they  may  enable  me  to  better  things. 
If  I  see  any  dish  to  tempt  my  palate, 
I  fear  a  serpent  in  that  apple,  and 
would  please  myself  by  a  wilful  denial. 
I  rise  capable  of  more,  not  desirous ; 
not  now  immediately  from  my  trencher 
to  my  book,  but  after  some  inter- 
mission. Moderate  speed  is  a  sure 
help  to  all  proceedings ;  where  those 
things  which  are  prosecuted  with  vio- 
lence of  endeavour  or  desire,  either 
succeed  not,  or  continue  not. 

*•  After  my  later  meal,  my  thoughts 
are  slight:  only  my  memory  may  be 
charged  with  her  task  of  recalling  what 
was  committed  to  her  custody  in  the 
day ;  and  my  heart  is  busy  in  exami- 
ning my  hands  and  mouth,  and  all 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


Other  senses,  of  that  day's  behavioiii , 
And  now  the  evening  is  come,  no 
tradesman  doth  more  carefully  take  in 
his  wares,  clear  his  shop-board,  and 
shut  his  windows,  than  I  would  shut 
up  my  thoughts  and  clear  my  mind. 
That  student  shall  live  miserably,  who, 
like  a  camel,  lies  down  under  his  bur- 
den. All  this  done,  calling  together 
my  family,  we  end  the  day  with  God. 
How  miserable  is  the  condition  of  those 
men  who  spend  the  time  as  if  it  were 
given  them,  and  not  lent !  as  if  hours 
were  waste  creatures,  and  such  as 
should  never  be  accounted  for !  as  it 
God  would  take  this  for  a  good  bill  of 
reckoning,  Item,  spent  upon  my  plea- 
sures, 40  years! 

"  Such  are  my  common  days;  but 
God's  day  calls  for  another  respect. 


90        LIFK  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

The  same  sun  arises  on  this  day,  and 
enlightens  it:  yet,  because  the  Sun  of 
righteouL>ness  arose  upon  it,  and  gave 
a  new  life  to  the  world  in  it,  and  drew 
the  strength  of  God*s  moral  precept 
unto  it;  therefore  justly  do  we  sing 
with  the  Psalmist,  •  This  is  the  day 
which  the  Lord  hath  made.'  Now  I 
forget  the  world,  and  in  a  sort  myself; 
and  deal  with  my  wonted  thoughts,  as 
great  men  use,  who  at  some  times  of 
their  privacy,  forbid  the  access  of  all 
suitors.  Prayer,  meditation,  reading, 
hearing,  preaching,  singing,  good  con- 
ference, are  the  business  of  this  day, 
which  I  dare  not  bestow  on  any  work 
or  pleasure,  but  heavenly.  I  hate  su- 
perstition on  the  one  side,  and  loose- 
ness on  the  other ;  but  I  find  it  hard 
to  offend  in  too  much  devotion,  easy 


LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL.  9l 


in  profaneness.  The  whole  week  is 
sanctified  by  this  day ;  and  according 
to  my  care  of  this  day,  is  my  blessing 
on  the  rest." 

So  intent  was  he  on  these  beloved 
employments  that,  to  secure  leisure  for 
study,  he  is  said  *  to  have  restricted 
himself  at  one  time  to  a  single  meal  in 
the  day.  He  was  not  a  solitary  in- 
stance of  the  like  abstinence  among 
his  contemporaries.  But  that  he  was 
not  criminally  negligent  of  his  health 
may  be  inferred  from  various  circum- 
stances.   He  wisely  imitated  Isaac, 

who  went  out  in  the  evening  to 
meditate."  t  And  not  only  did  he  from 
time  to  time  indulge  himself  with  what, 
in  the  vehemence  of  his  enthiisiasim, 

•  Lloyd's  Memoirs,  p.  419. 

t  Art  of  Divine  Meditation,  Chap.  X. 


92        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

he  calls  "  his  other  soul,"  music;  but 
like  many  other  worthies  formed  for 
patient  contemplation,  he  occasionally 
took  down  the  angle,  and  by  the  river 
side  pursued  the  calling  symbolical  of 
his  own.  To  the  remonstrances  of  a 
considerate  friend  he  answers  —  Fear 
not  my  immoderate  studies,  I  have  a 
body  that  controls  me  enough  in  these 
courses  ;  my  friends  need  not.  There 
is  nothing  whereof  I  could  sooner  sur- 
feit, if  I  durst  neglect  my  body  to 
satisfy  my  mind;  but  while  I  affect 
knowledge,  my  weakness  checks  me, 
and  says,  *  Better  a  little  learning, 
than  no  health.'  I  yield,  and  patiently 
abide  myself  debarred  of  my  chosen- 
felicity- 

The  quiet  tenor  of  his  life  at  Wal- 
tham  was  thrice  interrupted  by  a  call 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


93 


from  his  Majesty,  to  bear  a  part  in 
undertakings  of  public  interest.  The 
first  was  in  1616,  when  he  went  to 
France  to  grace  the  splendid  retinue 
of  the  British  ambassador.  Viscount 
Doncaster.  Had  the  festivities  of  that 
brilliant  occasion  possessed  any  attrac- 
tions for  our  sober-minded  theologian, 
he  was  effectually  precluded  from  en- 
joying them  by  a  dangerous  sickness, 
which  overtook  him  soon  after  his  ar- 
rival, and  lasted  with  his  stay.  When 
the  time  arrived  for  the  return  of  the 
ambassador,  he  was  kindly  invited  by 
the  illustrious  Du  Moulin  to  reside 
with  him  till  his  recovery  should  be 
established.  "  I  thanked  him,"  says 
Dr.  Hall,  "but  resolved  if  I  could  but 
creep  homewards  to  put  myself  upon 
the  journey.    A  litter  was  provided, 


94        LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 


but  of  so  little  ease,  that  Simeon's 
penitential  lodging,  *  or  a  malefactor's 
stocks,  had  been  less  penal.  I  crawled 
down  from  my  close  chamber  into  that 
carriage,  '  in  which  you  seemed  to  me 
to  be  conveyed  as  in  a  coffin, '-j-  as 
Mr.  Moulin  wrote  to  me  afterward  ; 
that  misery  had  I  endured  in  all  the 
long  passage  from  Paris  to  Dieppe, 
being  left  alone  to  the  surly  muleteers, 
had  not  the  providence  of  my  good 
God  brought  me  to  St.  Germain's,  upon 
the  very  setting  out  of  those  coaches, 
which  had  staid  there  upon  that  morn- 
ing's entertainment  of  my  lord  ambas- 

•  Simeon  was  a  Syrian  devotee,  who  spent  57 
years  in  a  cavity  on  the  top  of  a  pillar.  His 
austerities  procured  him  a  reputation  which  en- 
abled him  to  found  a  sect,  from  their  singular  ha- 
bitations called  Stylitoe,  or  Sancti  Columnares. 
See  Mosheim,  Cent.  V.  Part  2. 

t  In  qua  videbaris  mihi  efierri,  tanquam  in  san* 
dapil&. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  95 


Sador.  How  glad  was  I  that  I  might 
change  my  seat  and  my  company.  In 
the  way,  beyond  all  expectation,  I 
began  to  gather  some  strength ;  whe- 
ther the  fresh  air  or  the  desires  of  my 
home  revived  me,  so  much  and  so 
sudden  reparation  ensued,  as  was  sen- 
sible to  myself,  and  seemed  strange  to 
others.  Being  shipped  at  Dieppe,  the 
sea  used  us  hardly,  and  after  a  night 
and  a  great  part  of  the  day  following, 
sent  us  back  well  wind-beaten,  to  that 
bleak  haven  whence  we  set  forth, 
forcing  us  to  a  more  pleasing  land-pas- 
sage, through  the  coasts  of  Normandy 
and  Picardy;  towards  the  end  whereof 
my  former  complaint  returned  upon 
me,  and  landing  with  me,  accompanied 
me  to  and  at  my  long-desired  home." 
On  his  return,  he  found  that,  during 


96        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


his  absence,  the  king  had  conferred 
upon  him  the  deanery  of  Worcester! 

Early  in  tlie  following  year  he  was 
called  to  accompany  his  Majesty  on 
his  famous  expedition  into  Scotland, 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  Epis- 
copacy.* It  was  James's  fortune  to 
have  at  his  command  men  whose  con- 
sciences acquiesced  in,  whose  talents 
vindicated,  and  whose  worth  com- 
mended the  measures  which  his  vanitlT"^ 
suggested,  and  his  obstinacy  enforced. 
The  ceremonies,  afterwards  obnoxi- 
ously distinguished  as  the  Five  Ar- 
ticles of  Perth,  were  the  main  cause  of 
the  royal  pedant's  progress  into  Scot- 
land on  this  occasion.  He  did  one 
thing  wisely  when  he  took  in  his  train 

»  For  an  account  of  his  Majesty's  doings  on  this 
occasion,  see  Caldcrwoud'i  Histurv.  pp.  673.  et 
teg. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  97 

an  Episcopalian  so  sincere,  so  learned, 
and  so  reasonable  as  Dr.  Hall.  Wis 
words  had  more  persuasiveness  than 
his  master's  ordinances ;  and  though 
we  do  not  know. that  he  came  any 
speed,  the  meekness  and  earnestness 
with  which  he  argued  the  question, 
were  better  fitted  to  overcome  the 
presbyterian  prejudices  of  Scotchmen, 
than  the  domineering  arrogance  of  one 
whose  arguments  owed  all  their  weight 
to  his  station.  He  respected  the  pres- 
byterian ministers,  and  they  recom- 
pensed his  good  opinion  with  their 
cordial  estCv^m.  His  more  injperious 
and  less  logical  brethren  envied  and 
misrepresented  his  reputation.  As  he 
says  himself — "The  great  love  and 
respect  that  I  found,  both  from  the 
ministers  and  people,  brought  me  no 


98        LIFE  OP  BISfiOP  HALL. 

small  envy  from  some  of  our  own* 
Upon  a  commonly  received  supposi* 
tion,  that  his  Majesty  would  have  no 
farther  use  of  his  chaplains,  after  his 
remove  from  Edinburgh  (forasmuch 
as  the  divines  of  the  country,  whereof 
there  is  great  store  and  worthy  choice, 
were  allotted  to  every  station),  I  easily 
obtained)  through  the  solicitation  ot 
my  ever-honoured  Lord  of  Carlisle,  to 
return  with  him  before  my  fellows. 
No  sooner  was  I  gone,  than  sugges- 
tions were  made  to  his  Majesty  of  my 
over  plausible  demeanour  and  doctrine 
to  that  already  prejudicate  people,  for 
which  his  Majesty,  after  a  gracious 
acknowledgment  of  my  good  service 
then  done,  called  me  upon  his  return 
to  a  favourable  and  mild  account;  not 
more  freely  professing  what  informa- 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  99 


tions  had  been  given  against  me,  than 
his  own  full  satisfaction  with  my  sincere 
and  just  answer;  as  whose  excellent 
wisdom  well  saw,  that  such  winning 
carriage  of  mine  could  be  no  hinder- 
ance  to  those  his  great  designs.  At 
the  same  time  his  Majesty,  having  se- 
cret notice  that  a  letter  was  coming 
to  me  from  Mr.  W.  Struthers,  a  re- 
verend and  learned  divine  of  Edin- 
burgh, concerning  the  five  points  then 
proposed  and  urged  to  the  Church  of 
Scotland,  was  pleased  to  impose  upon 
me  an  earnest  charge,  to  give  him  a 
full  answer  in  satisfaction  to  those  his 
modest  doubts ;  and  at  large  to  declare 
my  judgment  concerning  these  required 
observations,  which  I  speedily  per- 
formed with  so  great  approbation  of 
his  Majesty,  that  it  pleased  him  to 
command  a  transcript  thereof,  as  1  was 


100      LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

informed,  publicly  to  be  read  in  their 
most  famous  university ;  the  effect 
whereof  his  Majesty  vouchsafed  to 
signify  afterwards  unto  some  of  my 
best  friends,  with  allowance  beyond 
my  hopes." 

In  1618,  the  Synod  of  Dort  as- 
sembled to  pronounce  a  judgment  on 
the  controversies  introduced  by  the 
new  sect  of  Arminlus.*  As  they  de- 
sired the  attendance  of  divines  from 
the  various  reformed  churches,  Dr. 
Hall  was  one  of  four  deputed  to  re- 
present the  Church  of  England.  But 

•  A  full  account  of  this  famous  Synod  will  be 
found  in  Hales's  Golden  Remains,  and  in  Brandt's 
History  of  the  Reformation  in  the  Low  Countries. 
The  previous  history,  in  a  very  authentic  form, 
will  be  round  in  the  preface  to  the  Articles  of  the 
Synod,  translated  by  the  late  Mr.  Scott  of  Aston- 
Sandford. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  101 


he  had  not  attended  two  months,  when 
the  deleterious  influence  of  a  Dutch 
atmosphere,  and  the  sleepless  nights 
of  a  garrison  town,  reduced  his  deli- 
cate frame  to  such  a  state  of  weakness 
that  he  became  unfit  to  give  his  pre- 
sence regularly,  and  was  brought  to 
the  reluctant  conclusion  that  he  must 
withdraw.  Before  setting  out,  he  com- 
plied with  a  request  of  the  Synod, 
and  preached  before  them  a  sermon 
in  Latin,  which  he  was  enabled  to  do 
with  unexpected  vigour,  having  en- 
joyed during  the  previous  night  his 
first  sound  rest  after  a  wakeful  fort- 
night. At  first  he  only  retired  to  the 
Hague,  in  the  hope  that  a  change  of 
place,  and  the  attentions  which  he  re- 
ceived in  the  house  of  the  ambassador, 
might  recruit  his  exhausted* strength; 


102        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

but  experiencing  no  salutary  result,  he 
accepted  his  Majesty's  recal.  "  Re- 
turning by  Dort,  I  sent  in  my  sad 
farewell  to  that  grave  assembly,  who 
by  common  vote  sent  to  me  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Synod,  and  the  assistants, 
with  a  respectful  and  gracious  valedic- 
tion. Neither  did  the  Deputies  of  my 
Lords  the  States  neglect  to  visit  me ; 
and  after'a  noble  acknowledgment  of 
more  good  service  from  me  than  I 
durst  own,  dismissed  me  with  an  ho- 
nourable retribution,  and  sent  after  me 
a  rich  medal  of  gold,  the  portraiture 
of  the  Synod,  for  a  precious  monu- 
ment of  their  respects  to  my  poor  en- 
deavours, who  failed  not,  whilst  I  was 
at  the  Hague,  to  impart  unto  them 
my  poor  advice  concerning  the  pro- 
ceeding ofthat  synodical  meeting.  The 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  103 


difficulties  of  my  return  in  such  weak- 
ness were  many  and  great ;  wherein, 
if  ever,  God  manifested  his  special 
providence  to  me,  in  overruUng  the 
cross  accidents  of  that  passage,  and, 
after  many  dangers  and  despairs,  con- 
triving my  safe  arrival."  The  gold 
medal  was  transmitted  to  him  from  the 
States,  through  the  eminent  scholar 
Daniel  Heinsius,  and  from  all  the  gra- 
tifying circumstances  attending  its  pre- 
sentation, was  a  memorial  which  he 
justly  valued.  It  is  conspicuously  in- 
troduced in  his  portrait  preserved  in 
Emanuel  College.  Dr.  Hall  had  never 
occasion  to  be  ashamed  of  his  con- 
nexion with  the  venerable  Synod  of 
Dort,  notwithstanding  the  aspersions 
heaped  upon  it  as  soon  as  its  sit- 
tings had  terminated,  and  propagated 


104       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

to  the  present  day.  Amongst  other 
calumnies,  his  colleagues  were  accused 
of  a  conspiracy  against  the  Arminians, 
and  of  having  taken  an  oath  before- 
hand to  vote  down  the  remonstrants. 
The  slander  might  have  refuted  itself ; 
but  Dr.  Hall  published  a  letter  which 
effectually  dispelled  it,  and  we  are  not 
aware  that  this  falsehood  has  ever 
been  revived. 

The  errors  which  this  Synod  con- 
demned, but  did  not  cure,  soon  crossed 
the  German  Ocean,  to  divide  the 
churches  of  Britain.  *'  Sides  were 
taken,  and  pulpits  rang  everywhere  of 
these  opinions."  The  pacific  spirit  of 
this  holy  man  was  wounded,  when  he 
heard  the  watchwords  of  Arminian 
controversy  passed  as  freely  and  angrily 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  105 


in  England  as  they  had  ever  been  in 
Holland.  When  the  convocation  of 
the  Church  met  in  1623,  Dr.  Hall 
preached  a  sermon  in  Latin  before  it, 
of  which  an  English  translation  by 
his  son  is  preserved  among  his  other 
works.  Its  tone  is  as  conciliatory  as 
might  have  been  anticipated  from  the 
known  tendencies  of  the  author,  and 
its  very  title  is  nobly  indicative  of  his 
designs  and  feelings,  —  "  Noah's  dove 
bringing  an  olive  of  peace  to  the  tossed 
ark  of  Christ's  church."  He  laboured 
in  other  ways  to  restore  the  unity  of 
which  he  mourned  the  departure ;  and 
published^  as  "  a  project  of  pacifica- 
tion," some  remarks  '*  on  the  five  busy 
articles,  commonly  known  by  the  name 
of  Arminius."  In  this  his  mediatory 
interference  met  with  no  better  reward 


106       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

than  did  that  of  Richard  Baxter  in  a 
similar  controversy  a  short  time  after  ; 
for  it  brought  upon  him  the  suspicions 
of  many,  and  the  open  hostility  ot 
some  in  either  party.  As  he  calmly 
remarks,  *'  I  was  scorched  a  little  with 
this  flame,  which  I  desired  to  quench." 

Hitherto  Dr.  Hall  had  sustained  the 
lighter  responsibilities  and  easier  la- 
bours of  a  parish  priest.  When  he  had 
adventured  in  controversy,  no  other 
necessity  was  laid  upon  him  than  the 
love  which  he  bore  to  truth,  and  con- 
cern at  beholding  the  best  cause  the 
worst  supported.  He  had  enjoyed  fre- 
quent, if  not  long,  intervals  of  that 
contemplative  leisure  after  which  his 
soul  habitually  thirsted.  He  was  now 
called  to  govern  a  church  where  his 
ambition  had  only  been  to  serve ;  but 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  107 


the  period  of  his  elevation  was  ont 
when  the  office  of  a  bishop  was  least 
likely  to  be  courted.  His  episcopate 
extended  over  the  most  tempestuous 
period  which  the  EngUsh  hierarchy  has 
encountered.  The  vessel  was  heaving 
when  he  was  summoned  to  his  post ; 
and  the  billow  which  bore  him  to  the 
shore  was  that  which  swept  over  the 
wreck. 

It  was  in  1627  that  Dr.  Hall  was 
consecrated  Bishop  of  Exeter.  He  had 
previously  declined  the  see  of  Glouces- 
ter. He  entered  on  this  high  station 
aware  of  the  suspicions  from  many 
quarters  which  attended  him:  "for 
some  that  sate  at  the  stern  of  the 
Church  had  him  in  great  jealousy  for 
too  much  favour  of  Puritanism."  He 
had  early  intelligence  that  certain  per- 


108       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


sons  were  set  as  spies  to  watch  over 
him.  However,  he  formed  his  resolu- 
tion, and  walked  wisely  according  to 
its  rule.  In  his  diocese  he  found  some 
who  did  not  comply  with  the  ecclesi- 
astical canons  ;  but  by  his  prudent  and 
gainly  conduct  he  reclaimed  all  the  re- 
fractory, except  two  who  retired  from 
his  jurisdiction.  What  greatly  tended 
to  secure  harmony  within  his  extensive 
charge,  was  the  honourable  determina- 
tion which  he  formed  at  the  outset,  and 
to  which  he  steadily  adhered,  of  never 
imposing  any  new  orders  or  rites  on  his 
clergy.  This,  with  the  full  toleration 
of  week-day  lectures  and  extra-canoni- 
cal services,  and  the  favourable  notice 
which  ho  took  of  the  mere  diligent 
among  the  clergy,  secured  for  his  dio- 
cese an  invidious  pre-eminence  over 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  109 


those  around  it,  and  brought  on  him 
the  resentment  of  his  more  narrow- 
minded  brethren  on  the  bench,  as  well 
as  the  hostility  of  the  less  exemplary 
within  his  own  cure.  At  court  he  was 
informed  against,  and  "was  three  se- 
veral  times  upon  his  knees  to  his 
Majesty,  to  answer  these  great  crimina- 
tions ;"  insomuch  that  he  "plainly  told 
the  Lord  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
that  rather  than  he  would  be  obnoxious 
to  these  slanderous  tongues  of  his  mis- 
informers,  he  would  cast  up  his  rochet." 
The  unanimity  and  attachment  of  his 
clergy  were  his  sufficient  compensation 
for  the  obloquy  which  others  so  un- 
worthily cast  upon  him.  But  a  doubtful 
oath  imposed  in  1640,*  and  which  this 
conscientious  prelate  could  not  tender 
•  The  synodical  or  et  cetera  oath. 


110       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

to  his  clergy,  gave  rise  to  dissensions, 
through  the  officious  interposition  of 
some  strangers.  The  majority  still  ad- 
hered to  him  ;  but,  the  firebrands  being 
now  scattered,  he  foresaw  a  conflagra- 
tion. In  this  conjuncture  he  was  the 
more  ready  to  accept  the  offer  of  a 
translation  to  Norwich,  made  to  liim 
in  the  year  following  (1641).  by  King 
Char'es.  With  his  promotion  to  this 
see  he  closes  his  Specialties.  **  But 
how  I  took  the  Tower  in  my  way  ;  and 
how  I  have  been  dealt  with  since  my 
repair  hither,  I  could  be  lavish  in  the 
sad  report,  ever  desiring  my  good  God 
to  enlarge  my  heart  in  thankfulness  to 
him,  for  the  sensible  experience  I  have 
had  of  his  fatherly  hand  over  me,  in 
the  deepest  of  all  my  afflictions,  and  to 
strengthen  nie  for  whatsoever  other 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.         1 1 1 


trials  he  shall  be  pleased  to  call  me 
unto ;  that  being  found  faithful  unto 
the  death,  I  may  obtain  that  crown  of 
life,  which  he  has  ordained  for  all  those 
that  overcome." 

The  value  of  Bishop  Hall's  services, 
and  the  perils  of  his  situation,  will  be 
better  understood  when  it  is  remem- 
bered that  Laud  was  at  this  time  the 
primate  of  England.  Among  the  other 
inflictions  of  that  violent  and  arbi- 
trary prelate,  was  the  famous  Book 
of  Sports."  This  he  revived,  and  re- 
quired that  it  should  be  read  from 
every  pulpit  in  England.  Those  who 
resisted  were  silenced  for  their  puri- 
tanism  ;  but  the  piety  and  independence 
of  Hall  rescued  the  clergy  of  his  diocese. 
And  although  the  archbishop,  in  the 
plenitude  of  his  zeal  against  evangelical 


112        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

religon,  had  summoned  before  the  Star 
Chamber  some  pious  individuals,  who 
had  founded  lectureships  and  purchased 
impropriations  for  the  supply  of  desti- 
tute parishes,  and  compelled  them,  at 
a  prodigious  sacrifice,  to  relinquish 
their  scheme,  Bishop  Hall  had  the  in- 
trepidity to  protect  within  his  bounds 
the  obnoxious  lecturers. 

His  moderation,  however,  did  not 
save  him  from  the  storm  which  at  this 
time  burst  after  long  threatening,  and 
carried  the  episcopal  order  before  it. 
The  circumstance  which  implicated 
him  was,  at  the  worst,  an  act  of  un- 
advisedness.  When  the  Parliament 
met  towards  the  close  of  1641,  the 
popular  indignation  against  the  bishops 
had  risen  so  high,  that  the  House  of 
Lords  was  beset  by  an  armed  mob  of 


LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL.  US 

many  thousands,  who,  by  the  cry  of 
**  No  bishops !"  gave  unequivocal  indi- 
cations of  their  object.  Such  of  the 
order  as  happened  to  be  present,  in- 
cluding the  Archbishop  of  York  and 
the  subject  of  this  memoir,  felt  that 
their  lives  were  in  jeopardy,  and  es- 
caped with  diflSculty  to  their  homes;  — 
some  under  the  protection  of  the  Earl 
of  Manchester,  others  by  secret  and 
circuitous  routes,  and  the  rest  by  re- 
maining till  the  night  was  far  advanced. 
Having  been  so  narrowly  rescued,  the 
bishops  felt  no  inclination  to  expose 
themselves  again  to  similar  danger, 
and  were  induced  to  sign  a  document 
prepared  by  the  Archbishop  of  York, 
petitioning  the  King  and  Parliament  to 
guarantee  their  safety  in  attending  on 
their  legislative  duties,  and  protesting 


11*       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

against  all  enactments  which  might  pass 
during  their  absence.  This  protest 
was  instantly  laid  hold  of  by  their  ene- 
mies as  a  most  unconstitutional  and 
treasonable  declaration,  and  made  the 
ground  of  an  impeachment  against  the 
twelve  who  had  signed  it.  "  We  poor 
souls,"  says  Hall,  "  who  little  thought 
that  we  had  done  anything  that  might 
deserve  a  chiding,  are  now  called  to 
our  knees  at  the  bar,  and  charged 
severally  with  high  treason,  being  not 
a  little  astonished  at  the  suddenness 
of  this  crimination,  compared  with  the 
perfect  innocency  of  our  own  inten- 
tions. But  now  traitors  we  are  in  all 
haste,  and  must  be  dealt  with  accord- 
ingly. For  on  January  30  (1642)^  in 
all  the  extremity  of  frost,  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  dark  evening,  are  we 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  115 


voted  to  the  Tower;  only  two  of  our 
number  had  the  favour  of  the  black 
rod  by  reason  of  their  age,  which 
though  desired  by  a  noble  lord  on  ray 
behalf,  would  not  be  yielded :  wherein 
I  acknowledge  and  bless  the  gracious 
providence  of  God;  for  had  I  been 
gratified,  I  had  been  undone  both  in 
body  and  purse,  the  rooms  being  strait, 
and  the  expense  beyond  the  reach  of 
my  estate.  The  news  of  our  crime 
and  imprisonment  soon  flew  over  the 
city,  and  was  entertained  by  our  well- 
wishers  with  ringing  of  bells  and  bon- 
fires ;  who  now  gave  us  up  (not 
without  great  triumph)  for  lost  men, 
railing  on  our  perfidiousness,  and  ad- 
judging us  to  what  foul  deaths  they 
pleased." 


116       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

At  this  time  of  surprise  and  peril, 
with  the  exultations  of  his  enemies 
ringing  in  his  ears,  and  an  impeach- 
ment  for  his  life  hanging  over  him. 
Bishop  Hall  addressed  a  letter  to  a 
private  friend,  so  full  of  the  noble  sen- 
timents and  indignant  utterance  which 
conscious  rectitude  inspires,  in  har- 
mony with  Christian  humility,  that  we 
regret  being  compelled  to  give  only 
extracts : — 

My  intentions  and  this  place  are 
such  strangers,  that  I  cannot  enough 
marvel  how  they  met.  But,  howso- 
ever, I  do  in  all  humility  kiss  the  rod 
wherewith  I  smart,  as  well  knowing 
whose  hand  it  is  that  wields  it.  To 
that  infinite  justice  who  can  be  inno- 
cent? but  to  my  king  and  country 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


117 


never  heart  was,  or  can  be  more  clear  ; 
and  I  shall  beshrew  my  hand  if  it  shall 
have  (against  my  thoughts)  j  ustly  offend- 
ed either;  and  if  either  say  so,  I  reply 
not ;  as  having  learned  not  to  contest 
with  those  that  can  command  legions. 

"  You  tell  me  in  what  fair  terms  I  ' 
stood  not  long  since  with  the  world ; 
how  large  room  I  had  in  the  hearts  of 
the  best  men  :  but  can  you  tell  me 
how  I  lost  it?  Truly  I  have  in  the 
presence  of  God  narrow^  searched 
my  own  bosom ;  I  have  impartially 
ransacked  this  fag-end  of  my  hfe,  and 
curiously  examined  every  step  of  my 
ways ;  and  I  cannot  by  the  most  exact 
scrutiny  of  my  saddest  thoughts,  find 
what  it  is  that  I  have  done  to  forfeit 


118        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

that  good  estimation  wherewith  you 
say  I  was  once  blessed. 

*'  Can  my  enemies  say,  that  I  bore 
up  the  reins  of  government  too  hard, 
and  exercised  my  jurisdiction  in  a  ri- 
gorous and  tyrannical  way,  insolently 
lording  it  over  my  charge?  Malice 
itself,  perhaps,  would,  but  dare  not 
speak  it ;  or  if  it  should,  the  attesta- 
toin  of  so  numerous  and  grave  a 
clergy  would  choke  such  impudence. 
Let  them  witness  whether  they  were 
not  still  Entertained,  with  an  equal 
return  of  reverence,  as  if  they  had 
been  all  bishops  with  me,  or  I  only  a 
presbyter  with  them.  Let  them  say 
whether  aught  here  looked  despotical, 
or  sounded  rather  of  imperious  com- 
mand than  of  brotherly  complying; 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  119 

whether  I  have  not  rather  from  some 
beholders  undergone  tlie  censure  of  a 
too  humble  remissness,  as  stooping 
too  low  beneath  the  eminence  of  epis- 
copal dignity ;  whether  I  have  not 
suffered  as  much  in  some  opinions,  for 
the  winning  mildness  of  my  adminis- 
tration, as  some  others  for  a  rough  se* 
verity. 

"  Can  they  say  that  I  barred  the 
free  course  of  religious  exercises,  b; 
the  suppression  of  painful  and  peace- 
able preachers?  If  shame  will  suffer 
any  man  to  object  it,  let  me  cliallenge 
him  to  instance  but  in  one  name.  Nay, 
the  contrary  is  so  famously  known  in 
the  western  parts,  that  every  mouth 
will  herein  justify  me.  What  free  ad- 
mission and  encouragement  have  1  al- 


120       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

ways  given  to  all  the  sens  of  peace, 
that  came  with  God's  message  in  their 
mouths!  What  mis-suggestions  have 
I  waived!  How  have  I  often  and  pub- 
licly professed,  that  as  well  might  we 
complain  of  too  many  stars  in  the  sky, 
as  too  many  orthodox  preachers  in  the 
church  ! 

"  Can  they  challenge  me  as  a  close 
and  hack-stair  friend  to  Popery  or  Ar- 
minianism,  who  have  in  so  many 
pulpits,  and  so  many  presses,  cried 
down  both?  Surely  the  very  paper 
that  I  have  spent  in  the  refutation  of 
both  these,  is  enough  to  stop  more 
mouths  than  can  be  guilty  of  this 
calumn}'. 

"  Lastly,  since  no  man  can  offer 
to  upbraid  me  with  too  much  pomp, 
which  is  wont  to  be  the  common  eye- 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


121 


sore  of  our  envied  profession,  can  any 
man  pretend  to  a  ground  of  taking  me 
of  too  much  worldiiness?  Surely,  of 
all  the  vices  forbidden  in  the  deca- 
logue, there  is  no  one  which  my  heart, 
upon  due  examination,  can  less  fasten 
upon  me  than  this.  He  that  made  it 
knows  that  he  hath  put  into  it  a  true 
disregard  (save  only  for  necessary  use) 
of  the  world,  and  all  that  it  can  boast 
of,  whether  for  profit,  pleasure,  or 
glory.  No,  no ;  I  know  the  world  too 
well  to  doat  upon  it.  It  were  too 
great  a  shame  for  a  philosopher,  a 
Christian,  a  divine,  a  bishop,  to  have 
his  thoughts  grovelling  here  upon 
earth ;  for  mine,  they  scorn  the  em- 
ployment, and  look  upon  all  these 
sublunary  distractions  with  no  other 
eyes  than  contempt. 


122       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  ttALL. 

**  To  shut  up  all,  and  to  surcease 
your  trouble,  I  write  not  this  as  one 
that  would  pump  for  favour  and  repu- 
tation from  the  disaffected  multitude 
(for  I  charge  you  that  what  passes  pri- 
vately betwixt  us  may  not  fall  under 
common  eyes),  but  only  with  this  de- 
sire and  intention,  to  give  you  true 
grounds,  when  you  shall  hear  my  name 
mentioned  with  a  causeless  offence,  to 
yield  me  a  jnst  and  charitable  vindi- 
cation. Go  you  on  still  to  do  the 
office  of  a  true  friend,  yea,  the  duty 
of  a  just  man;  in  speaking  in  the  cause 
of  the  dumb,  in  righting  the  innocent, 
in  rectifying  the  misguided  j  and  lastly, 
the  service  of  a  faithful  and  ciiristian 
patriot,  in  helping  the  times  with  the 
best  of  your  prayers,  which  is  the  daily 


UFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  123 


task  of  your  much  devoted  and  thank- 
ful friend,  —  Jos.  Norvic." 

After  a  bill  had  passed  both  Houses, 
and  obtained  the  royal  assent,  for  de- 
priving the  bishops  of  their  seats  in 
parliament,  the  Commons  proceeded 
to  impeach  the  twelve  who  had  signed 
the  protjestation,  at  the  bar  of  the 
Lords,  on  a  charge  of  high  treason. 
But  finding  that  there  was  no  likeli- 
hood of  obtaining  a  conviction  of  a 
crime  so  serious,  they  assumed  a  lower 
ground.  A  bill  was  introduced  and 
passed  by  both  Houses,  declaring  the 
bishops  delinquents  of  a  high  nature, 
depriving  them  of  their  ecclesiastical 
authority,  and  assigning  to  each  a  stated 
yearly  maintenance.  The  bishops  were 


124        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

then  released,  on  giving  bond  to  a  great 
amount. 

It  was  in  the  month  of  June  that 
Bishop  Hall  found  himself  once  more 
at  large,  after  a  confinement  of  five 
months.  During  this  time  he  had  not 
been  idle.  For  besides  taking  his  ro- 
tation with  his  brethren  in  'preaching 
on  the  Lord's  day,  and  corresponding 
with  his  friends,  he  wrote  his  work  en- 
titled, The  Free  Prisoner."  On  his 
release,  he  instantly  repaired  to  Nor- 
wich, the  seat  of  his  new  bishopric, 
and  was  received  with  more  respect 
than  he  anticipated  from  the  temper 
of  the  times.  He  preached  on  the 
Sabbath  following  his  arrival  to  a 
crowded  audience,  and  continued  his 
services  unmolested  till  the  month  of 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


125 


March  following  (1643).  The  ordi- 
nance of  sequestration  was  then  issued, 
and  the  commissioners  of  Parliament 
came  to  inform  the  Bishop  that  he 
must  abandon  his  palace,  and  that 
they  were  required  to  seize  on  all  his 
estate,  real  and  personal.  They  went 
to  the  extent  of  their  warrant,  not 
leaving  so  much  as  a  dozen  of  trenchers, 
or  his  children's  pictures,  out  of  their 
curious  inventory."  But  before  the 
time  fixed  for  the  public  sale  of  his 
goods  arrived,  a  pious  lady,  unknown 
to  the  Bishop,  redeemed  his  furniture, 
until  he  should  be  able  to  repurchase 
it ;  and  a  benevolent  divine  of  his  dio- 
cese rendered  an  additional  service,  by 
paying  the  estimated  value  of  his  li- 
brary. Being  now  deprived  of  every 
source  of  income,  he  apphed  to  the 


126       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

committee  on  sequestrations  for  the 
annuity  granted  by  Parliament;  but  he 
was  told  that  an  order  had  come  down 
inhibiting  any  such  allowance.  In 
answer,  however,  to  a  petition  from 
his  wife,  a  smaller  yearly  payment  was 
assigned  to  her ;  though,  by  a  most  un- 
righteous exaction,  out  of  this  scanty 
fund  the  Bishop  had  to  defray  assess- 
ments and  monthly  pajTnents  for  lands 
which  were  no  longer  his.  At  last, 
after  his  endurance  had  been  sorely 
tried,  by  witnessing  the  defacing  of  his 
cathedral,  and  the  demolition  of  its 
splendid  organ,  he  was  ejected  from 
the  palace,  which  his  straitened  means 
rendered  no  longer  a  suitable  habita- 
tion. A  generous  neighbour  relin- 
quished his  house  for  the  accommo- 
dation of  the  Bishop  and  his  family. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


127 


where  be  only  remained  till  he  procured 
the  lease  of  a  small  property  at  Higham, 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  Norwich. 

Of  his  subsequent  life,  spent  in  re- 
tirement and  without  molestation,  we 
know  little;  but  that  little  is  enough  to 
prove  that  its  latter  end  was  worthy 
of  its  beginning.  He  continued  to 
preach  until  his  infirmities  and  legal 
prohibitions  had  disabled  him.  Then 
"  as  oft  and  long  as  he  was  able,  this 
learned  Gamaliel  was  not  only  content, 
but  very  diligent  to  sit  at  the  feet  of 
the  youngest  of  his  disciples,  as  dili- 
gent a  hearer  as  he  had  been  a  preach- 
er." After  the  death  of  Charles  I.  he 
continued  to  observe  with  his  family  a 
weekly  fast  because  of  it.  Though 
his  fortune  was  so  greatly  reduced,  a 
number  of  poor  widows  were  his 


128        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

weekly  pensioners.  In  1652  he  lost 
his  wife,  and  then  he  wrote  a  tract, 
almost  his  last,  entitled,  "  Songs  in  the 
Night."  From  this  interesting  memo- 
rial we  see  how  this  grey-headed  saint 
went  down  to  his  grave  "  sorrowing 
yet  rejoicing."  "  Have  I  lost  my  goods 
and  foregone  a  fair  estate?  Had  all  the 
earth  been  mine,  what  is  it  to  heaven  ? 
Had  I  been  the  lord  of  all  the  world, 
what  were  this  to  a  kingdom  of  glory? 

•*  Have  I  parted  with  a  dear  con- 
sort; the  sweet  companion  of  my 
youth;  the  tender  nurse  of  my  age; 
the  partner  of  my  sorrows  for  these 
forty-eight  years?  She  is  but  stept  a 
little  before  me  to  that  happy  rest, 
which  I  am  panting  towards,  and 
wherein  I  shall  speedily  overtake  her. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  129 

In  the  meantime  and  ever,  my  soul  is 
espoused  to  that  glorious  and  immortal 
Husbaod  from  whom  it  shall  never  be 
parted- 


**  Am  I  bereaved  of  some  of  my 
dear  children,  the  sweet  pledges  of  our 
matrimonial  love ;  whose  parts  and 
hopes  promised  me  comfort  in  my  de- 
clined age?  Wliy  am  I  not  rather 
thankful  it  hath  pleased  my  God,  out 
of  my  loins,  to  furnish  heaven  with 
some  happy  guests?  Why  do  I  not, 
instead  of  mourning  for  their  loss,  sing 
praises  to  God  for  preferring  them  to 
that  eternal  blessedness  ? 


"  Am  I  afflicted  with  bodily  pains 
and  sickness,  which  banish  all  sleep 
from  my  eyes,  and  exercise  me  with  a 
I 


130        LIFE  OF  BISttOP  HALL. 


lingering  torture  ?  Ere  long  this  mo- 
mentary distemper  shall  end  in  an  ever- 
lasting rest." 

And  so  it  was ;  for  though  his  pain- 
ful malady  was  prolonged  for  four  years 
more,  they  will  appear  but  a  "  mo- 
ment" now.  The  grace  which  enabled 
him  to  overcome  at  last,  strength- 
ened him  to  bear  throughout.  One 
who  saw  has  recorded,  that  "  though 
sorely  afflicted  with  bodily  diseases, 
he  bore  them  all  with  as  much  pa- 
tience as  hath  been  seen  in  any  flesh, 
except  that  of  the  Saviour."  And 
when  his  time  drew  near,  many  of  the 
noble,  and  karned,  and  pious,  gathered 
to  his  chamber  to  implore  his  dying 
prayers,  and  bear  away  his  dying  bene- 
diction. After  much  time  s.^nt  in  de- 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  131 


votion,  and  many  words  of  gracious 
exhortation,  he  summoned  the  expi- 
ring energies  of  nature  to  make  the  last 
confession  of  his  faith ;  and  when  sa 
engaged,  his  strength  departed,  the 
agonies  of  deatli  came  over  him,  and 
then  he  fell  asleep.  He  died  on  the 
8th  of  September  1656,  when  he  had 
reached  his  82d  year. 

His  will  assigned  the  churchyard  as 
his  burying  place;  adding  as  his  rea- 
son, I  do  not  hold  God's  house  a 
meet  repository  for  the  dead  bodies  of 
the  greatest  saints."  He  bequeathed 
£30  to  each  widow  in  the  village 
where  he  was  born,  and  in  that  where 
he  died. 

Here  our  sketch  should  have  ended. 


132        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

But  on  looking  back,  we  feel  conscious 
of  an  involuntar)'  injury  to  the  memory 
of  this  great  man,  in  having  presented, 
even  with  his  own  assistance,  a  view  of 
his  character  so  exclusively  external. 
We  are  aware  that  publications,  pa- 
rochial and  diocesan  care?,  the  busi- 
ness of  the  nation,  the  defence  of  or- 
thodoxy, journeys  of  observation  or  of 
diplomacy  —  in  short,  that  the  whole 
busi/  work  of  existence  formed  but  in 
part  the  life  of  Bishop  Hall.  His  was 
eminently  a  life  of  coxtemplatiox. 

He  fell  upon  a  time  when  the  Church 
of  England  contained  many  men  whose 
genius  and  piety  would  have  immorta- 
lized and  sainted  them  in  an  earlier 
age.  With  a  theology  less  accurate 
and  a  devotion  less  enlightened  than 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL,  133 


signalized  their  puritan  successors,  and 
with  a  piety  less  strenuous  and  san- 
guine than  that  which  poured  in  ani- 
mation through  the  stern  and  athletic 
orthodoxy  of  our  covenanting  fathers, 
a  jealous  sincerity,  a  serene  quietism, 
and  an  unflinching  self-denial,  were  the 
commanding  characteristics  of  their  re- 
ligion, which  made  it  awful  and  inte- 
esting  to  others,  and  safe  for  them- 
selves. It  wanted  in  the  activity  of 
life  and  the  diffusiveness  of  Christi 
anity.  It  was  introverted,  not  aggres- 
sive. It  mused  and  soliloquized.  It 
was  monastic,  and  dwelt  alone.  It 
was  more  amiable  in  its  forbearance, 
than  meritorious  for  its  services.  In 
its  narrow  channel  it  flowed  deep,  but 
it  seldom  overflowed. 


134       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

The  idolatry  of  one  party  has  in- 
jured them  with  another;  but  the  day 
is  coming  that  will  restore  to  each  his 
own.  In  its  first  outburst,  the  noise 
of  faction  will  overwhelm  the  voice  of 
piety,  still  and  small,  but  it  cannot 
last  so  long.  And  now  that  the  ran- 
cour of  raging  polemics  is  settling  down 
into  forgetfulness,  tlie  memorial  and 
the  works  of  these  excellent  of  the 
earth  are  reviving,  and  posterity,  more 
just  to  them  than  they  were  to  them- 
selves, is  admitting  the  claims  of  either 
party  to  attributes  of  worth  wliich  they 
could  not  discern  in  one  another. 

For  ourselves,  with  leanings  all  away 
from  prelacy,  we  would  commemorate 
with  as  much  alacrity  as  we  iiave  felt 
deliglit  in  contemplating  the  singular 


LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL. 


135 


devotion  and  exalted  genius  which  dis- 
tinguished many  a  high  churchman  of 
the  first  Charles's  reign  —  the  exem- 
plars of  an  age  only  moving  regret  by 
the  contrasted  Uttleness  of  our  own. 
To  specify  all  the  instances  would  not 
be  easy ;  and  it  is  hard  to  select  a 
few.  But  there  was  George  Herbert, 
the  gentle,  the  elegant  —  majestically 
humble,  gravely  gay — as  antithetic  in 
his  character  as  in  his  own  quaint 
poesy — passing  no  week  without  music, 
and  no  day  without  showing  mercy — 
converting  life  into  one  Sabbath,  and 
fulfilling  his  invocation  to  that  sacred 
day,  when  it  and  he  "  flew  hand  in 
hand  to  heaven."  Jeremy  Taylor,  too, 
soaring  in  ether  with  a  load  of  learning 
which  would  have  kept  another  grovel- 
ling, and  from  pinions  wet  with  Cas- 


136 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


t^ian  dew  shedding  freshness  on  the 
arid  waste  of  controversy — now  cast- 
ing a  look  of  hope  to  the  ancient 
models,  anon  dashed  by  the  contem- 
plation of  his  own  ideal  —  beside  the 
waters  of  Lough  Neagh,  musing  on 
the  mysterious  tower  of  its  romantic 
island,  and  its  more  mysterious  anti- 
quity, till  his  "  thoughts  wandered 
through  eternity ;"  or  amid  the  ruins 
of  its  monastery  listening  for  the  revi- 
ving echoes  of  its  wonted  orisons,  un- 
til his  dreaming  fancy  beheld  in  the 
evening  light  of  autumn  its  tapers  re- 
kindled, and  in  the  falling  shadows 
marshalled  anew  the  sacerdotal  pro- 
cession— an  imagination  revelling  in 
all  the  picturesque  and  sublime  of  re- 
ligion, and  a  heart  responding  with 
harmonious  impulse  to  its  loftiest  re- 


LIFE  OP  BISHOP  HALL.  1S7 


quirements.  There  was  Nicholas 
Ferrar — the  Church-of-England-man 

—  closing  his  eyes  on  propitious  for- 
tune and  radiant  beauty,  and  that  no- 
thing earthly  might  distract  his  gaze, 
and  no  rest  short  of  heaven  allure  his 
sense,  immured  in  a  protestant  con- 
vent— meting  to  himself  scanty  slum- 
bers on  the  hard  pillow  of  an  anchoret 

—  with  his  goods  feeding  all  the  needy 
except  himself,  and  indulging  no  lux- 
ury save  the  midnight  music  of  the 
choristers  whom  he  retained  to  "praise 
God  nightly"  in  the  oratory  of  Little 
Gidding.  And  Henry  Hammond, 
economizing  his  time  by  the  abundance 
of  his  prayers,  and  increasing  his  wealth 
by  the  wise  munificence  of  his  charities 
— living  for  his  friends,  reducing  kind- 
ness to  a  law,  and  welcoming  the  in- 


138        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

terruption  which  called  for  its  exercise 
— amidst  bodily  sufferings  producing 
works  of  research  and  judgment,  de- 
manding but  sufficient  to  destroy  the 
most  vigorous  health — "  omne  jam 
tulerat  punctum,  cum  Mors,  quasi 
suum  adjiciens  calculum,  terris  ab- 
stulit."  Among  these  and  many  more,* 
almost  as  ascetic  in  his  life,  but  above 
them  all  in  the  largeness  of  his  views 
and  the  soundness  of  his  creed,  we 
recognise  the  gifted  author  of  the 
"  Contemplations." 

Of  his  voluminous  writings  a  com- 
parative estimate  has  long  ago  been 

*  See  Walton's  Life  of  Herbert  —  Heber's  Life  of 
Taylor  —  Packard's  Life  of  Ferrar  — and  Fell's 
Life  of  Hammond.  For  others  of  the  same 
period,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Lloyd's  Memi)irs, 
Walton's  Lives,  and  Dr.  C.  Wordsworth's  inter- 
esting collection  of  Ecclesiastical  Biography. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


139 


formed  by  the  pithy  author  of  Eng- 
land's Worthies.  *'  Not  unhappy  at 
Controversies,  more  happy  at  Com- 
ments, very  good  in  his  Characters, 
better  in  his  Sermons,  best  of  all  in 
his  Meditations."  Fuller  is  nearly  right 
in  his  gradation  ;  but  we  would  trans- 
pose the  Comments  to  the  place  which 
he  has  assigned  to  the  Controversies ; 
and  as  to  the  Characters  and  Medi- 
tations, we  scarcely  know  which  to 
prefer. 

A  popular  controversy  is  an  eligible 
investment  for  those  who  are  anxious 
that  their  moderate  talents  should  bring 
them  a  large  rather  than  a  lasting  re- 
venue of  fame.  Whilst  the  strife  is 
hottest,  he  must  be  a  despicable  auxi- 
liary whom  neither  side  will  accept  as 
a  champion  and  applaud  as  a  hero. 


HO       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

But  when  the  war  is  ended,  there  is 
no  retiring  allowance  for  the  disband- 
ed volunteers.  The  controversy  ex- 
pires, and  the  reputations  which  it 
created  soon  follow  those  others  which 
it  destroyed.  But  there  are  exceptions. 
There  are  controversies,  in  themselves 
insignificant,  which  have  been  immor- 
talized by  the  parties  whom  they  called 
into  action.  There  are  controversial 
writings  which  are  the  epitaphs  of  the 
of  the  subjects  on  which  they  treat 
The  subject  is  buried  with  the  age 
which  gave  it  birth  ;  Dut  its  memory  is 
perpetuated  by  some  rare  disputant, 
whose  wit  or  sense  or  eloquence  has 
that  vitality  which  will  not  perish 
lightly.  The  topics  on  which  Hall  ex- 
hausted his  erudition  and  ingenuity 
have  many  of  them  gone  into  a  happy 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


141 


oblivion ;  yet  such  is  the  amount  of 
genius  and  learning  which  these  works 
display,  that  in  order  to  revive  their 
popularity  we  have  only  to  destroy 
the  other  writings  of  their  author.  In 
their  tone  and  spirit  they  exemplify 
the  rules  laid  down  in  the  excellent 
treatise  on  Christian  Moderation,  when 
he  says,  "  It  is  not  for  Christians  to 
be  like  unto  thistles  or  teazles,  which 
a  man  cannot  touch  without  pinching 
his  fingers  ;  but  rather  to  Pilosella,  in 
our  Herbal,  which  is  soft  and  silken 
in  the  handling,  although,  if  it  be 
hard-strained,  it  yields  a  juice  that 
can  harden  metals  to  cut  iron."  Per- 
haps the  pacific  temper  which  made 
him  so  amiable  as  a  man,  rendered 
him  less  eminent  as  a  controversialist. 
With  the  secret  misgivings  of  one  who 


142        LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

trode  forbidden  ground,  he  dealt  his 
blows  irresolutely ;  and  in  the  literary 
gymnastics  of  his  day,  it  was  reckoned 
feeble  execution  to  annihilate  an  ar- 
gument without  demolishing  the  au- 
thor also.  The  tract  entitled,  '*  The 
Revelation  unrevealed,"  is  interesting 
from  its  connection  with  a  subject 
which  lately  agitated  the  British 
Churches.  It  would  have  been  well 
for  the  world  had  the  course  of  Bishop 
Hall  been  more  frequently  pursued, 
who  was  better  pleased  to  inculcate 
caution  on  more  fearless  and  sanguine 
investigators,  than  to  increase  the  un- 
certainty by  conjectures  of  his  own. 
The  event  has  justified  his  wisdom ;  and 
whatever  may  be  thought  of  his  argu- 
ments— and  some  of  them  still  wait  for 
a  refutation  —  the  modern  advocates 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  143 


of  a  personal  reign  might  be  admo- 
nished by  the  failures  of  their  equally 
confident  predecessors.  The  autiior 
whom  Bishop  Hall  refuted,  had  fixed 
the  year  1656  for  the  conversion  of  the 
Jews,  1666  for  the  end  of  the  papacy, 
and  1700  for  the  raising  of  the  dead 
and  the  beginning  of  Christ's  earthly 
kingdom.  *'  How  many  have  I  heard 
joyfully  professing  their  hopes  of  an 
imminent  share  in  that  happy  king- 
dom ;  yea,  some  have  gone  so  far  as 
already  to  date  their  letters  from  New 
Jerusalem,  and  to  subscribe  themselves 
glorified."  Our  author  showed  his  for- 
bearance  by  suspending  his  judgment 
till  the  event  should  decide  for  him,  and 
did  a  service  to  the  cause  of  prophetic 
scripture,  by  showing  that  its  veracity 
was  not  involved  in  anv  of  these  rash 


144       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

predictions.  Far,  however,  from  im- 
pugning the  motives  or  questioning  the 
piety  of  his  opponents,  he  only  asks 
for  leave  to  entertain  his  own  opinion 
in  peace.  "  What  prejudice  is  it  to 
me,  if  the  souls  of  martyrs  get  the  start 
of  me  in  resuming  their  bodies  a  thou- 
sand years  before  me,  if  in  the  mean- 
while my  soul  be  at  rest  in  a  paradise 
of  bliss?  And  what  can  it  import  any 
man's  salvation  to  determine  whether 
the  saints  reign  with  Christ  on  earth 
or  in  heaven,  while  I  know  that  in 
either  they  are  happy?" 

"  The  Christian,"  «  The  Characters 
of  Virtue  and  Vice,*'  and  those  other 
works  where  the  peculiarities  of  hu- 
man nature  form  the  subject  of  inves- 
tigation, have  always  appeared  to  us 
among  the  most  successful  efforts  of 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  1*5 


their  author's  genius.  His  characters 
are  sketched  with  a  graphic  precision 
worthy  of  Theophrastus,  and  with  the 
same  felicitous  regard  to  the  minute 
traits  which  define  the  species,  and  to 
that  general  habit  which  describes  it ; 
"whilst  in  the  greater  elevation  of  his 
standard  and  more  practical  tendency 
of  his  strictures,  as  well  as  in  the  racy 
strength  of  his  language,  he  excels  his 
Aristotelian  model.  Nor  does  he  even 
want  the  occasional  humour  of  the 
more  ancient  author.  These  charac- 
ters, along  with  some  other  specimens 
in  the  Holy  State"  of  Bishop  Hall's 
contemporary,  Thomas  Fuller,  are  the 
early  anticipations  of  a  literature  which 
the  essayists  of  the  succeeding  century 
carried  to  a  pitch  of  unrivalled  perfec- 
tion; but  the  reader  who  has  the  most 


146      LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

extended  acquaintance  with  these,  will 
return  with  admiration  to  the  originals 
of  Hall  and  Fuller,  in  whose  "  English 
undefiled"  he  will  find  much  wisdom 
combined  with  as  much  knowledge,  — 
that 

knowledge  which  dwells 
In  heads  replete  with  thoughts  of  other  men, 
Wisdom  in  minds  attentive  to  their  own. 

But  we  gladly  proceed  to  notice 
works  which,  as  they  employed  the 
best  moments  of  their  author,  still  live 
to  *'  praise  him  in  the  gate." 

The  **  art  of  heavenly  meditation," 
was  that  which  he  had  chiefly  studied. 
Even  among  his  contemporaries,  there 
were  few  who  combined  such  density 
of  expression  with  such  amplitude  of 
thought  —  few  who  had  studied  the 
Fathers  so  diligently,  and  who  could 
command  them  so  readily  —  few  who 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  147 


had  drunk  so  deeply  the  classic  inspi- 
ration— few  who  had  entered  into  the 
meaning  of  Scripture,  with  the  same 
spirit  of  quick  apprehensiott  and  tho- 
rough appreciation  —  and  fewer  still 
who  had  learned  to  dwell  so  much  on 
high.  The  spirit  that  taught  the  pro- 
phets to  speak,  taught  him  to  under- 
stand. In  his  company  we  feel  that 
we  are  not  attended  by  a  perfunctory 
and  hireling  guide — but  by  one  whose 
profession  is  his  passion,  whose  fa- 
miliarity with  sacred  things  is  reveren- 
tial—  whose  insight  is  the  result  of 
love  and  long  acquaintance. 

He  was  a  man  of  peace,  and  de- 
lighted in  the  retirement  without  which 
it  is  seldom  enjoyed.  '*  The  court  is  for 
honour,  the  city  for  gain,  the  country 


U8      LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

for  quietness ;  a  blessing  that  need  not, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  wisest,  yield  to 
the  other  two.  Yea,  how  many  have 
we  known  that  having  nothing  but  a 
coat  of  thatch  to  hide  them  from  hea- 
ven, yet  have  pitied  the  careful  pomp 
of  the  mighty?  How  much  more  may 
they  who  have  full  hands  and  quiet 
hearts  pity  them  both?"  *•  What  a 
heaven,"  as  he  elsewhere  exclaims, 
**  lives  a  scholar  in,  that  at  once  in 
one  close  room  can  daily  converse 
with  all  the  glorious  martyrs  and  fa- 
thers !  —  that  can  single  out  at  plea- 
sure, either  sententious  Tertullian,  or 
grave  Cyprian,  or  learned  Jerome,  or 
flowing  Chrysostom,  or  divine  Am- 
brose, or  devout  Bernard, — or  who 
alone  is  all  these — heavenly  Augustin, 
and  talk  with  them,  and  hear  their 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  U9 


wise  and  holy  counsels,  verdicts,  re- 
solutions:  yea,  to  rise  higher,  with 
courtly  Isaiah,  with  learned  Paul,  with 
all  their  fellow-prophets,  apostles  :  yet 
more,  like  another  Moses,  with  God 
himself!"  In  such  retirement  passed 
the  chosen  hours  of  our  author,  and 
refreshed  by  such  converse  he  penned 
his  devotional  works. 

To  some  of  these  allusion  has  been 
already  made,  and  others  of  them  are 
sufficiently  known  by  frequent  and 
accessible  reprints.  The  most  popu- 
lar of  his  shorter  treatises  are,  **  Christ 
Mystical ;  or.  The  Blessed  Union  of 
Christ  and  his  Members,"  and  *'  The 
Balm  of  Gilead."  The  last  supplies 
the  best  materials  for  judging  of  the 
author's  mind  and  peculiar  manner ; 
but  is  not  superior  to  many  of  his  less 


150      LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

celebrated  publications,  **  The  Breath- 
ings of  the  Devout  Soul,"  «  The  Great 
Mystery  of  Godliness,*'  "  The  Soul's 
Farewell  to  Earth,  and  Approaches  to 
Heaven,"  and  above  all,  his  Soliloquies 
and  Meditations.  In  these  and  others 
we  find  an  ardent  piety,  that  must 
kindle  the  sympathetic  flame  in  every 
heart  of  like  experience,  and  may  pro- 
voke to  greater  love  and  better  works, 
those  who  are  conscious  of  their  short- 
coming. They  are  filled  with  affecting 
thoughts  of  an  unseen  Saviour,  of  his 
love  in  dying,  and  now  in  reigning,  — 
delighted  contemplations  on  the  works 
which  his  fingers  framed  —  gratitude 
for  mercies,  especially  those  most  im- 
portant but  least  remembered  bless- 
ings, negative  mercies,  —  stirring  ad- 
monitions on  the  shortness  of  the  time. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL.  151 


and  the  magnitude  of  a  believer's  work 
—  on  the  vanity  of  life,  the  approaches 
of  death,  and  the  joyful  recognitions 
and  endearing  fellowship  of  the  world 
unseen  —  incitements  to  moderation 
and  self-denial,  to  cheerfulness,  to 
peace  and  charity  —  holy  resolutions 
and  faithful  communings  with  himself. 
Connected  with  the  history  of  his  life, 
no  works  better  illustrate  that  "  ma 
tive  yet  quieting  principle  in  religion, 
which  alone  delivers  a  man  from  per- 
turbation in  the  world  and  inanity  in 
retirement."*  By  the  strength  "  which 
he  daily  fetched  from  heaven,  men's 
threatenings  became  no  terror,  nor  the 
honours  of  this  world  any  strong  en- 
ticement:  temptations  became  more 
harmless,  as  having  lost  their  strength; 
«  Hannah  More. 


152       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

and  aflBictions  less  grievous,  as  having 
lost  their  sting ;  and  every  mercy  be- 
came better  known,  and  better  re- 
lished."* 

But  there  is  a  work  still  better 
known,  and  combining  many  of  these 
excellencies  with  some  peculiar  to  it- 
self, *'  Contemplations  on  the  Histo- 
rical passages  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments."  Their  value  does  not 
consist  alone  nor  chiefly  in  the  acute 
expositions  of  Scripture  incidentally 
introduced — in  the  descriptive  vivacity 
which  paints  the  Bible  scenes  to  the 
eye  of  fancy,  or  enacts  its  history  anew 
—in  the  apothegmatical  naivete,  which 
deals  out  so  calmly  yet  so  pointedly 
the  eager  observations  of  a  penetra- 
•  Baxter. 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HAIX.  153 


ting  eye,  on  the  various  wisdom  and 
folly,  virtues  and  vices,  with  which  a 
long  life  had  made  him  familiar.  Nor 
is  it  only  in  the  ardent  enforcement  of 
Christian  duty,  and  eloquent  statement 
of  Christian  privilege,  that  this  book 
bespeaks  the  attention  of  the  serious 
reader.  It  presents  in  one  view  the 
Bible,  and  a  mind  rich  in  feeling  and 
accomplishments,  lovingly  exploring 
and  reverently  interpreting  the  Bible; 
nay,  as  it  were,  fraternizing  and  amal- 
gamating with  it.  These  Contempla- 
tions will  not  be  read  with  advantage 
by  one  who  peruses  them  as  a  com- 
mon book,  as  hastily  and  as  uncon- 
cerned; nor  will  they  be  read  aright 
without  adverting  continually  to  the 
peculiar  mode  of  their  execution,  to 
their  author  and  their  end.    In  the 


154       LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 

former  particular,  they  closely  resem- 
ble the  Confessions  of  his  favourite 
Augustin,  consisting  of  reflections  and 
ejaculations,  so  mingled  as  to  blend 
devotion  with  instruction.  The  author, 
whom  we  have  already  attempted  to 
pourtray,  recurs  to  our  imagination  as 
the  gentle,  self-denied,  and  benignant 
parish  priest,  whom  his  neighbours 
met  and  eyed  reverentially  as  he  took 
his  stated  evening  walk,  cheerful  at 
times,  but  oftener  pensive,  in  the  fields 
near  Waltham  parsonage  —  a  man  of 
that  calm  resolution  and  ardent  faith, 
which  could  at  any  warning  have  fol- 
lowed the  Saviour  whom  he  loved  to 
prison  and  to  death,  and  whose  aspi- 
rations often  soared  so  high  as  to  forget 
the  Meshech  where  he  sojourned.  And 
the  end  will  be  answered,  if  we  who 


LIFE  OF  BISHOP  HALL. 


155 


read  them,  learn  for  ourselves  to  live 
the  same  divine  life,  and  acquire  the 
same  skill  in  heavenly  meditation  — 
an  art  little  esteemed  and  less  practised 
in  an  age  which  vt'ould  not  be  too  busy 
if  it  thought  as  much  as  it  toils. 

More  sweet  than  odours  caught  by  him  who  sails 
Near  spicy  shores  of  Araby  the  blest, 
A  thousand  times  more  exquisitely  sweet. 
The  freight  of  holy  feelrag  which  we  meet. 
In  thoughtful  moments,  wafted  by  the  gale 
From  fields  where  good  men  walk,  or  bowers 
wherein  they  rest. '  WoEDswoaxB. 


THE  END. 


